B7 

George 
Lansing 
Taylor.D.E 


'idrrtC^ 


• 


-A 


£ 


Elijah  the  Reforiw^^ 


^    BALLAD-EPIC 


AND    OTHER 


SACRED  AND  RELIGIOUS  POEMS 


P.V 


GEO.  LANSING  TAYLOR,  D.D. 


NEW  YORK 

PHILLIPS    &    HUNT 

805    Broadway 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1885,  by 

FUNK   &   WAGNALLS, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


DEDICATION. 


My  Revered  Mother  :  You  have  passed  the  allotted  "  three- 
score years  and  ten"  of  mortal  life,  and  are  now  pressing  on 
toward  "  fourscore." 

My  first  remembrance  of  you  is  the  picture  of  a  blooming 
young  woman,  who,  having  taught  me  to  read  fluently  before 
I  can  remember,  was  then  teaching  me  orally,  from  her  own 
memory,  many  of  the  best  old  nursery  ballads  of  the  English 
tongue,  until  I  should  be  old  enough  to  lawfully  attempt  the 
ambitions  of  a  country  schoolhouse. 

Those  ballads,  always  of  a  serious  tinge,  were  often  of  a  weird 
and  somber  rhythm,  and  produced  a  profound  impression  on  a 
mind  no  doubt  hereditarily  predisposed  to  their  influence. 
The  vibrating  memory  of  those  haunting  cadences,  and  the 
conversational  Bible-readings  and  hymns  of  my  father  at  the 
family  altar,  were  the  loom  in  which  the  spell  was  woven  which, 
from  childhood,  drew  my  mind  to  the  marvels  of  sacred  s1 
and  the  witchery  of  sacred  numbers.  Stronger,  even,  than  the 
fascination  of  my  boyhood's  thrice-read  Rollin  and  BufTon 
and  Milton  and  Bunyan  was,  and  ever  will  be,  that  of  the  won- 
ders of  God's  work  in  Old  Testament  history,  and  the  fire  of 
Old  Testament  song. 

But  to  you  is  directly  traceable  much  of  that  fascination,  for 
to  you,  and  with  your  explanations,  I  read  aloud  those  win- 
ders and  songs,  as  the  reading  lessons  and  devotional  exercises 
of  mv  earliest  childhood. 


iv  DEDICATION. 

It  is  therefore  only  a  small  sheaf  of  your  own  sowing  which 
I  dutifully  lay  at  your  feet  to-day,  in  this  collected  volume  of 
sacred  poems  ;  and  I  am  thankful  that  you  yet  linger  in  the 
,v  Land  of  Beulah"  to  receive  them,  and  to  bestow  your  latest 
blessing  on  the  gleaner,  before  passing  on  to  rejoin  him  who, 
among  the  "  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,"  awaits  you  on 
the  brighter  shore. 

Several  of  these  pieces  you  have  seen,  in  their  fugitive  forms, 
as  printed  years  ago.  If  I  have  been  slow  in  gathering  them 
into  the  bundle  of  a  volume,  let  the  explanation  here  also  be 
your  own  influence — namely,  the  early  lesson  of  painstaking 
thoroughness,  which  taught  me  to  consider  no  work  finished 
while  it  was  in  my  power  to  make  it  better.  And  this  also 
is  why  some  of  them  have  lain  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  years 
in  manuscript,  going  through  several  carefully  written  edi- 
tions, before  being  offered  for  types. 

And  now,  having  been  first  moved  by  your  spirit,  and  then 
having  striven  to  obey  your  precept,  I  humbly  offer  you  this 
belated  first-fruits  sheaf,  earnestly  wishing  it  were  worthier  of 
your  approval. 


PREFACE. 


The'  poems  composing  this  volume,  except  in  the  case  of 
the  "  Elijah."  which  is  now  for  the  first  time  printed  entire, 
are  selections  from  the  author's  miscellaneous  pieces,  old 
and  new,  which,  by  the  indulgence  of  sundry  kind-hearted 
editors,  have  appeared  in  magazines  and  newspapers  during 
the  last  twenty-five  years.  They  have  been  selected  so  as  to 
form  a  volume  of  religious  poems,  which  should  have  (except 
in  the  position  of  the  leading  poem)  the  progressive  order  of 
history  in  the  biblical  pieces  and  that  of  religious  thought  in 
the  others. 

A  word  as  to  the  pieces  themselves.  Heroic  epic  poems  are 
rarer  than  century  plants.  They  bloom  not  by  centuries,  but 
one  for  each  great  national  civilization,  and  only  one.  But  the 
minor  epic,  the  narrative  ballad,  will  always  be  written  as  the 
poem  of  the  people.  The  "  Elijah''  of  this  volume,  although 
treating  of  the  sublimest  hero  and  moral  epopee  of  the  pro- 
phetic dispensation,  and  lifting  into  vision  not  only  the  hero,  but 
(by  the  poetic  license  of  anachronism)  the  whole  age  affected 
by  his  ministry,  is  not  an  attempt  at  heroic  epic,  but  only  at 
ballad  epic  ;  although  developed,  as  I  believe,  beyond  any 
previous  model  of  the  ballad.  The  other  biblical  pieces  are 
mainly  ballads,  epical  in  substance  and  spirit,  but  the  humbler 
and  more  popular  ballad  in  form.  In  the  only  formal  ode 
inserted,  "  The  Prophecy  of  Wisdom,"  I  have  taken  the  liberty 
to  make  a  wide  departure  from  the  rule  of  Archilochus,  the 
inventor  of  the  ode,  and  to  introduce  five  antistrophes  instead 
of  one,  between  the  strophe  and  the  epode,  in  order  that  I 
might  introduce  all  the  personified  characters  necessary  to  my 
plan,  with  their  claims,  before  the  epode  (which  I  have  length- 
ened) sums  up  and  answers  to  the  strophe,  to  close  the  ode. 

Perhaps  the  author    is    indebted   to    a  sort   of  compulsion 


vi  PREFACE. 

for  the  courage  to  offer  even  this  volume  to  the  public. 
John  Wesley,  in  the  preface  to  the  second  volume  of  his  sermons 
(which  had  been  printed  currently  in  the  Arminian  Magazine), 
says  he  found  that  another  clergyman  was  about  to  print  them 
in  a  volume,  on  which  he  quaintly,  but  sensibly,  remarks  :  "  If 
it  must  be  done,  .  .  .  methinks  I  am  the  properest  person  to 
do  it."  So,  when  prominent  publishers  are  using  the  imper- 
fect forms  of  these  pieces  without  compensation  to  the  author 
(over  thirty  pieces  or  extracts  in  one  work),  the  author  has  no 
choice  but  to  shock  up  his  sheaves,  or  else  have  his  little  har- 
vest go  into  other  barns  than  his  own.  He  has  therefore  col- 
lected and  carefully  revised  these  poems,  and  now  transfers 
them  to  his  publishers  in  their  only  authorized  forms.  If,  on 
the  grounds  of  competent  literary  criticism,  they  shall  receive 
a  small  share  of  the  favor  that  has  thus  far  been  extended  to 
them  by  a  very  lenient  religious  public,  the  author  will  be 
thankful.  He  has  not  attempted  to  follow  the  canons  of 
aesthetic  art,  which  would  conceal  the  moral  in  the  texture  of 
the  work,  or  else  suppress  it  altogether.  He  has  chosen  rather 
to  recognize  the  dignity  of  man's  moral  nature,  and,  after 
God's  order,  to  make  the  moral  stand  out  boldly,  as  best  befits 
a  religious  design,  and  especially  a  paraphrase  of  sacred  story. 

The  notes  have  been  added  by  the  advice  of  a  veteran  critic. 
Where  controversial  they  have  been  submitted  to  the  parties 
interested. 

In  appending  a  chronological  index  of  the  pieces,  the 
author  has  only  done  what  he  wishes  all  the  poets  had  done  for 
him.  He  has  done  it  also  in  the  hope  that  other  writers,  whom 
the  world  will  care  more  about,  may  one  day  do  the  same. 

Thus  these  pieces  are  once  more  sent  forth,  with  the  prayer 
that  they  may  be  not  wholly  without  a  mission  in  helping  to 
make  a  better  and  a  happier  world. 

G.  L.  T. 
541  Herkimer  Street,  Brooklyn, 
June  25,  1885. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Proem,  "Non  Nobis,  Domixe,"         .....  9 

Elijah  the  Reformer  :    A  Ballad-Epic  : 

Part  I.      Prologue,            .          .          .          .          .  13 

Part  II.     From  Gilead  to  Carmel,      .          .  19 

Part  III.     From  Carmel  to  Sinai,  ....  36 

Part  IV.      From  Sixai  to  Nebo,    .         ...         .  42 

Part  V.     From  Xebo  to  Hermox.    ....  56 

Part  VI.     Epilogue,     ......  59 

The  Callixg  of  Mose^.     .......  63 

The  Destructiox  of  Egypt's  First- Borx.    ...  67 

The  Passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  .  ..71 

The  Smitixg  of  the  Rock  ix  Kadesh,            ...  80 

The  Passage  of  Jordax,            ......  S$ 

The  Overthrow  of  Jericho, 92 

Gideox's  Campaigx  : 

Part  I.    lt  The  Sword  of  the  Lord  axd  of  Gideox,"  108 

Part  II.     "  Faixt,  vet  Pursuing,"                  .          .  117 

Elisha's  Fiery  Chariots,  .         .  .         .         .122 

Jehoshaphat's  Deliverance,        .         .         .         .         .  126 

The  Fiery  Furnace,         .         .         .         .         .         .  133 

The  Scourgixg  of  Heliodori  ~.              ....  139 

The  World-wide  Hope,    .         .  .  .         .         .         -144 

The  Ixcarxatiox  : 

Part  I.      A  Christmas  Carol,           ....  154 

Part  II.     The  Magi, 162 


vin  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The  Christmas  Bells, 178 

Paul  at  Philippi,          .......  182 

The  Sacred  Glory  of  Old  Age,      .....  188 

Armageddon,         ........  202 

A  Vision  of  the  Ages,      .......  209 

The  Prophecy  of  Wisdom  :   a  Philosophical  Ode: 

Strophe.     The  Argument,  and  the  Challenge  of 
Wisdom,  .         .  .         .  .  .  .  .  .218 

Antistrophe  I.     The  Answer  of  Pleasure,            .  221 

Antistrophe  II.     The  Answer  of  Knowledge,         .  222 

Antistrophe  III.     The  Answer  of  Art,        .         .  225 

Antistrophe  IV.     The  Answer  of  Philosophy,         .  227 

Antistrophe  V.     The  Answer  of  Power,      .          .  228 
Epode.     The  Answer  of  Wisdom,      .         .         .         .231 

De  Profundis  Via  Crucis  :  an  Experience  in  Theodicy  : 

Part  I.     Prelude,     .......  236 

Part  II.     The  Problem  of  the  Ages,          .          .  239 

Part  III.     The  Debate  and  Decree  in  Eternity,   .  243 

Part  IV.     The  Assent  of  Reason  to  the  Law,    .  247 

Part  V.     Love  Victorious  in  Redemption,       .         .  250 

Part  VI.     Postlude, 252 

A  Methodist  Centennial  Song,       .....  253 

Grace  Triumphant,      ........  264 

Work,  in  Rest, 269 

The  Light  of  the  World,    ......  272 

Immortality,    .........  275 

Appendix  A,           .        .         ......  280 


PROEM. 
wNon  Nobis,  Domine." 

4  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  give  glory."— Psalm  115  : 1. 

I. 

Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us 

The  praise  or  honor,  power,  or  glory  be  ! 

Our  naked  spirits  bow  in  shame  and  dust. 
And  offer  only  nothingness  to  thee. 

II. 

Not  unto  us  !     How  vain  is  mortal  might. 

Our  toils  or  talents,  gifts,  or  growth  or  grace  : 

Nothing  and  less  than  nothing  in  thy  sight. 

Our  works — ourselves  !     Before  thy  glorious  face, 

III. 

We  blush  t'  appear,  though  prostrate.  These  poor  straws, 
What  are  they  'mid  thy  infinite  harvests  white  ! 

What  are  these  dreams,  to  thy  self-luminous  laws  ! 
These  drops  of  darkness,  'mid  thy  wonders  bright  ! 


)  PROEM. 

IV. 
Thou  spheral  sea  of  universal  light  ! 

All  else  is  born,  and  floats,  and  dies  inthee  ; 
Thy  being  knows  no  limit  and  no  night ; 

Thou  wast,  and  art,  and  shalt  forever  be  ! 

V. 

Thy  all-informing  Spirit  breathes  and  lives 

Through  all  thy  works — thy  bright  perfections  shown  ! 

No  power  exists  but  thy  volition  gives, 

No  work  of  good  that  is  not  all  thine  own. 

VI. 

Thy  boundless,  blest  diffusion  all  things  fills, 
Warms,  quickens,  kindles,  actuates,  inspires  ; 

Through  being's  soul  thy  sovereign  soul  distils  ; 

Through  all  things  flash,  unspent,  thy  fruitful  fires  ! 

VII. 
"  Not  unto  us  ;"  the  grass,  the  flowers,  the  trees 

Breathe  in  low  whispers  where  the  sunshine  rains  ; 
"  Not  unto  us  ;"  beast,  bird,  and  brook,  and  breeze 

Responsive  murmur  o'er  fields,  woods,  and  plains. 

VIII. 
"  Not  unto  us  ;"  with  kneeling  waves  the  sea 

Proclaims  in  reverence  'round  a  thousand  shores  ; 
"  Not  unto  us  ;"  throughout  infinity, 

From  space  to  space  the  star-voiced  anthem  pours. 


PROEM.  1 1 

IX. 
t  unto  us  ;"  thy  feeblest  offspring  sigh. 
The  animated  motes  through  nature  sown  ; 
"  Xot  unto  us  ;  "  thy  grandest  creatures  cry. 

That  burn  with  formless  flames  before  thy  throne. 

X. 

"  Xot  unto  us  !"     How  sweet  to  join  the  strain, 
In  self  deliverance  blissful  and  complete  ; 
And  all  our  toils,  successes,  failures,  pain. 
To  lose,  O  Christ  Creator,  at  thy  feet  ! 

XI. 
"  Xot  unto  us  !"     Our  humble  gifts  we  bring. 
Because  thou  askest  all,  and  wilt  receive  : 
O  grant  a  nobler  power  to  toil  and  sing. 
To  use  one  talent,  and  for  more  believe. 

XII. 
"  Xot  unto  us  !"     O  Lord  of  worlds  supreme. 

What  good  we  work  thou  workest  ;  thine  the  praise  ' 
O  cleanse  !     Light  all  our  deeps  with  Truth's  white  beam  ! 
And  work  in  us,  through  us,  to  endless  dav~ 


ELIJAH    THE    REFORMER. 

A   BALLAD-EPIC. 


Part  First.     Prologue,  Samaria  and  Baalism. 

I. 

O  Spirit  from  whose  fiery  breath  all  hero-souls  are  born, 
Whose  wondrous  line  of  seers  divine  went  forth  the  world  to 

warn, 
Teach  me  the  strains  to  sing  thy  power  in  one  of  loftiest  fame, 
Whose   godlike   soul,  while    ages  roll,  still    sets  men's  hearts 

aflame  ! 
Teach  me  Elijah's  spirit,  rapt,  Elijah's  faith  to  sing. 
Till   snatched    from    time  in   flight    sublime,  his  ardent  soul 

takes  wing  ; 
God's  great  Reformer,  greatest  born,  the  type  of  all  who  burn 
With   heaven-sent  fire  to  lift  man  higher  ;  O  might   his    like 

return  ! 
Then,  then  should  our  weak,  doubting  age  learn  faith  in  God 

again, 
And  heroes  rise  on  longing  eyes,  to  lead  the  race  of  men. 


14  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

II. 
The  city  by  King  Omri  built  stood  on  her  far-famed  hill, 

With  silver  bought  for  talents  twain,  and  named  for  Shemer1 
still  ; 

For  Shemer,  who  there  taught  his  corn  and  wine  their  amber 
glow. 

Before  her  stately  turrets  rose,  renowned  so  long  ago, 

Samaria,  then  queen  of  that  revolted  Israel 

Whom  Nebat's  son,  'gainst  Judah's  line  first  tempted  to  rebel. 

So  fair,  so  grand  that  city  shone,  a  mountain,  splendor-crowned, 

An  opal  in  an  emerald  plain  of  vineyards  sweeping  'round  ; 

Beyond    the    plain    the    circling  range  of  Ephraim,  bold  and 
free, 

Sank  westward  where  soft  Sharon  dreams  beside  the  bound- 
less sea. 

Not  Salem's  self,  on  Zion  throned,  such  matchless  site  could 
boast, 

Nor  one  of  thousand  cities  famed  in  all  the  ages  lost. 

III. 

Now    princely    Ahab,    Omri's    son,    possessed    his    father's 

throne, 
And    o'er  ten   tribes  of   Jacob's    seed   reigned   sov'reign  and 

alone. 
From    snow-crowned    Hermon's    towering   range   his  sceptre 

swayed  supreme, 
To  Judah's  vine-impurpled  dells,  and  Jordan's  winding  gleam  ; 

I.  Kings  16  :  24. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  15 

From   far-off   Bashan's  oak-clad    hills,  and   Gilead,  breathing 

balm, 
To  where  majestic  Carmel  nods  o'er  ocean's  sunset  calm. 
A  goodlier  realm  of  mount  and  plain  and  vale  and  lake  and 

shore, 
The  sun  ne'er  saw,  whose  quenchless  beams  earth's  thousand 

lands  explore. 
Xor  slack  was  royal  Ahab's  hand,  content  with  nature's  toil. 
Perennial  streams,  and  grains  and  fruits  that  owned  the  gen- 
erous soil, 
For  arms  and  arts  beneath  his  care  in  power  and  culture  rose. 
The  triumphs  of  a  land  in  peace,  the  terror  of  her  foes. 
Damascus  twice,  with  Syria's  kings  in  chivalry  allied. 
Beneath  his  arm,  at  God's  command,  bowed  low  her  broken 

pride  ; 
Samaria's  walls    more    grandly  towered  ;  fair  Jezreel    smiled 

below  ; 
And    from    eight    centuries    night    and    curse    woke    dateless 

Jericho.1 
O  Shomeron,2  had  Salem's  Lord,  Jehovah,  been  alone 
Thy  trust,   how  might  thy  name  have   thrilled  the  ages,  like 

her  own  ! 

IV. 
But    ah  !  from    one    deliberate    crime,  what    sumless  w 

begin  ! 
Since  Nebat's  impious  son  first  dared — immortal  in  his  sin  ! — 

1   I.  Kings  16  :  34. 

-  Ibid.  16  :   24,  Hebrew  name  in  margin. 


1 6  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

'Neath  bestial  forms  of  gold1  th'  Unknown,  the  Infinite  to 
express, 

How  swift,  how  fearful  Israel's  lapse,  how  deep,  how  fathomless  ! 

Six  blood-red  reigns  in  sixty  years  had  marked  that  wrathful 
time, 

Till  Ahab  rose  o'er  all  before,  in  infamy  sublime, 

And  he  beneath  whose  godless  thrift  a  mammon  age  had  grown. 

In  pride  portentous  strove  to  drive  Jehovah  from  his  throne. 

For  Ahab's  chosen  bride  and  queen,2  of  Zidon's  royal  line, 

Adored  not  Israel's  God,  but  bowed  at  Baal's  hostile  shrine  ; 

That  power  3  renowned  from  Libya's  coast  to  Ormus'  orient 
strand, 

Phoenicia  hoar,  Pelasgic  Greece,  and  every  Punic  land. 

Osiris,  Ammon,  Belus,  Bel,  by  Nile  or  Phrat  he  throve, 

By  some  Hesperian  Saturn  owned,  by  some  Olympian  Jove  ; 

But  Jove,  with  Rome's  Pantheon,  bowed  before  his  conquer- 
ing shrine, 

When  Baal's  priest  was  Rome's  base  lord,4  and  shamed  her 
Caesars'  line. 


1  I.  Kings  12  :  28,  29. 

2  Ibid.  16  :  30,  31. 

3  See  McClintock  and  Strong's  Biblical,  Theological,  and  Ecclesiastical 
Cyclopaedia,  articles  on  Baal,  Baalim,  Asherah,  Ashtoreth,  etc. 

4  Namely,  when  Heliogabalus,  who  had  been  consecrated  a  priest  of  the 
Syrian  sun-god  Elagabalus  (who  was  the  same  as  the  Phoenician  Baal),  be- 
came emperor  of  Rome,  A.n.  219.  He  exalted  Baal  above  all  the  Greek 
and  Roman  gods,  proclaiming  them  to  be  only  his  servants,  while  he  him- 
self publicly  officiated  as  Baal's  priest,  until  his  profligacy,  which  shamed 
even  fallen  Rome,  caused  his  assassination,  by  which  Rome  was  delivered 
from  a  monster,  although  he  was  then  only  eighteen  years  old. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  17 

E'en   far-off    Britain's    Druid    piles    and    cromlechs1    tell    his 

fame, 
And  Scotia's  shapeless  crumbling  cairns  still  bear  his  mystic 

name. 
Him  Ahab's  queen  from  Tyrian  fanes  to  high  Samaria  bore. 
With  her,  as  Aprodite  2  known  on  the  loose  Cyprian  shore, 
Foul   Ashtoreth,    the  moon,   or    star,   Astarte,   heaven's    lewd 

queen, 
Asherah,  one,  the  same,  adored  with  nameless  rites  obscene. 

V. 

Then  on  Samaria's  beetling  height,  her  steep  Acropolis, 
Idolatry's  first  temple3  rose,  its  dark  metropolis. 
Solemn  and  vast  the  wonder  loomed,  a  marble  peristyle, 
Whose  ruins  mocked  the  years,  rebuilt  in  many  a  later  pile. 
There   Baal's  giant  stature  towered,  with  man-like  form  and 

face, 
But  brow  and  horns  that  spake  the  lord   of  all  the   belluine 

race  ; 

1  "  Traces  of  the  idolatry  symbolized  under  it  [Baalism]  are  even  found  in 
the  British  Isles,  Baal,  Bal,  or  Beal  being,  according  to  many,  the  name  of 
the  principal  Deity  of  the  ancient  Irish  ;  and  on  the  tops  of  many  hills  in 
Scotland  there  are  heaps  of  stones  called  by  the  common  people  '  Bel's 
Cairns,'  where  it  is  supposed  that  sacrifices  were  offered  in  early  times.*' — 
Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  in.,    105  ;  xi.,  621. 

-  Ashtoreth  or  Asherah  was  the  Syrian  Venus,  known  as  Aphrodite  in  prof- 
ligate Cyprus  and  other  Greek  countries,  the  goddess  of  carnal  love. 

3  I.  Kings  16  :  32,  33.  Profane  authors  mention  the  size  and  strength  of 
this  famous  temple,  although  perhaps  they  confound  it  with  the  one  on  Mount 
Gerizim,  which  was  afterward,  under  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  converted  into 
a  temple  of  Jupiter  WzWznvas.—Josephus,  Antiq.  xii.,  v.,  5. 


1 8  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

Strength,  rule,  the  generative  powers  terrestrial,  blent  in  one, 

With  brute-like  force,  and  human  mind,  and  symbolled  by 
the  sun.1 

And  lewd  Astarte's  lustful  groves  on  every  hill  were  seen, 

Where  mysteries  abhorred  were  taught  beneath  the  shimmer- 
ing green, 

Where  priestesses  of  shame,  like  those  of  famed  Mylitta's2 
dome, 

Whose  guilt  sunk  mighty  Babylon,  made  God's  pure  land 
their  home. 

Oh,  rueful  day  !    when  Israel's  king,  with  vain  ambition  wTild, 

For  state-craft  sold  his  God,  and  wooed  Ethbaal's  heathen 
child  ! 

To  bind  his  league  with  alien  powers  both  faith  and  con- 
science sold, 

And  brought  the  harlot  Jezebel,  a  tigress,  to  God's  fold  ! 

Around  her  board  eight  hundred  priests  of  Baal,  and  the 
groves 

Of  vile  Asherah,  riot  loud,  and  boast  their  impious  loves, 

While  Israel's  altars  fall,  profaned,  her  priests  to  exile  driven  ; 

Her  warriors  cowed,  her  matrons  shamed,  her  maids  to  out- 
rage given  ; 

Till  court  and  cot,  debased  alike,  Jehovah's  law  blaspheme  ; 

And  Virtue  faints,  dissolved  and  lulled  in  deep,  luxurious 
dream. 

1  See  Cyclopaedia  articles  on  Baal  and  Baalism. 

2  Mylitta,   the   Babylonian   Venus,   whose  worship   was  one   of  the  most 
profligate  known  to  antiquity. 


ELIJAH   THE   REFORMER.  1 9 

Part  Second.     From  Gilead  to  Carmel. 

I. 

Then,  like  the  cloudless  thunder-bolt  that  cleaves  the  sum- 
mer sky. 
Or  like   the   whirlwind's    burst    that    whelms    the   fleets   that 

windless  lie. 
From  unknown    Tishbe's   hamlet  rude,  in  Gilead's  wilds  afar, 
God's  doom  on  that  apostate  land  fell  like  a  blazing  star. 
The  Tishbite  dread,  Elijah,  stands  in  Ahab's  ivory  hall  ! 
His    cloak    the    skin    of    mountain    goat,    his  robe   a    mohair 

pall  ; 
His  garb  around  his  sinewy  loins  a  rawhide  belt  confined  ; 
His  hair  and  beard,  like  raven  plumes,  streamed  dark  along 

the  wind. 
A    strong   acacia's    spiky  stem,  scarce  smoothed,  was   in    his 

hand  ; 
His  feet  were  fleshless,  callous,  bare,  and  tawny  as  the  sand  ; 
His   brow,  a  beetling    crag,  o'erhung    his    swart    and    shaggy 

chest, 
And  'neath   its  shades  his  eyes  glanced  keen  as  eagles'  from 

their  nest. 
Remote  from  courts,  corruption,  crime,  in  that  high,  shepherd 

land, 
With    God   alone   his    soul    had   grown    to    stature   bold  and 

grand  ; 


20  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

From  Jacob's   seed,  or  Jokshan's  stock,  unknown,1  he  stands 

God's  seer  ; 
The  Highlander  of  prophecy,  God's  glorious  mountaineer  ; 
For  many  a  wild,  in  many  a  land,  and  many  a  peak  sublime, 
Can  tell  how    solitude  with  God  breeds  souls  that  conquer 

time. 
Such  he  who  in  that  wondrous  hall,  unbidden,  awed  earth's 

state, 
Till   one   man's  upright  majesty   dwarfed   all  that  kings  call 

great. 
That    roof,  of    India's    tusk    inwrought,  and    Afric's    mighty 

spoils, 
Bestarred  with  rainbow  gems,  in  zones  of  Ophir's  fretted  toils; 
That  dome's  cerulean  firmament,  with  zodiac  fires  o'erspread  ; 
That  tessell'ed  pave,  whose  storied  sheen  flung  back  the  hues 

o'erhead  ; 
That  regal  throne,  sublimely  raised  amid  the  mimic  spheres, 
Fade  all,  like  glittering  dreams,  what  time  that  awful    form 

appears  ! 
With  right  hand  lifted  to  the  winds,  in  act  to  bind  the  storm, 
And  eyes  before  whose  steadfast  gaze  back  cowered  that  scep- 
tred worm, 
Like  the  dread  sound  from   Ocean's  deeps,  when  earthquakes 

jar  his  caves, 

1  There  is  much  ground  in  the  general  character  and  conduct  of  Elijah  to 
suggest  that  he  was  not  a  Hebrew,  but  of  some  of  the  other  numerous  tribes 
of  Abrahamides  settled  on  the  Eastern  frontier  of  Palestine.  See  Cyclopaedia 
•articles  on  "  Jokshan,"  etc. ;  also  the  views  of  several  recent  Oriental  travellers 
and  scholars.      He  was,  at  all  events,  a  typical  Shemite  seer. 


ELIJAH    THE  REFORMER.  21 

The    message    came,  or    like    the    moan    of    spirits    o'er    the 

waves  ! — 
"  As    lives   Jehovah,    Israel's   God,    before    whose    face    I 

STAND, 

Nor    summer's  dew,  nor   winter's  rain,   shall    slake    this 

guilty  land 
These  months  and  years   to  come,  except  according  to  my 

word 
From  God  !"  —  He  ceased.     Aghast  they  stood,  nor  king  nor 

menial  stirred, 
Palsied  alike  !    Unchallenged  forth  through  court  and  gate  he 

passed, 
From  throngs  who  watched  that  day's  light  fade  as  though  it 

were  earth's  last. 

II. 

Woe  to  the  land  where  Virtue  dies,  and  Passion  reigns 
alone  ! 

Where  Lust,  sublimed  and  deified,  usurps  Religion's  throne  ! 

Where  flesh  and  blood,  mere  kneaded  dust,  in  hot  ferment 
conspire, 

Cloud  Reason's  sight,  and  Heaven's  pure  light,  and  set  men's 
souls  on  fire  ! 

Woe  to  the  age  whose  seers  and  bards,  instinct  with  earth- 
born  flame, 

Pervert  divine  philosophy  to  plead  for  swinish  shame  ; 

And  bow  the  awful  gift  of  song,  Heaven's  highest  chrism  of 
fire, 


2  2  ELIJAH   THE   REFORMER. 

Changed  to  a  foul  and  reeking  slave,  to  serve  accurst  Desire  ! 
Woe    to    the   age    when    gold    is    god,    and    law    a    solemn 

jest 
That    helps    the    boldly    vile    to    crush    the    noblest    and    the 

best  ! 
When  Mammon  o'er  cheap  millions  flings  his  gilded  harness 

strong, 
And  drives  them,  tame  beneath  his  lash,  down  broad  highways 

of  wrong, 
While  Truth's  shrill  clarion  down  the  sky  peals  faintly  o'er  the 

rout, 
And  dust  and  fumes  of  earth  and  sin  shut  heaven's  last  sun- 
light out  : 
Then  look  for  lightning  !     God's   red    bolts  must   cleave  the 

stifling  gloom, 
In  love  or  wrath,   to  purge  the   world,   or    whelm  in  Sodom's 

doom. 

III. 

Rain  !    Rain  !     No   rain  !     No   morning    dew    to   bend    the 

pleading  flowers  ; 
No    moisture    dripping    cool    at    dawn    among    the    vine-clad 

bowers. 
The  empty  clouds,  with  mocking  pomp,  on  light  vain  winds 

float  by, 
And   melt   from  sight  at  morn   and   even,  in  one  unchanging 

sky. 
The  noontide  beats,  a  billowy  sea  of  fierce,  relentless  rays, 
And  morn  and  even's  suns  glow  red,  in  sullen  fiery  blaze  ! 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  23 

The  fields  are  parched,   the   harvests  scorched,   the   pastures 

brown  and  sere  ; 
The    roaming,    restless,    wistful    herds    low    hollow    on    the 

ear  ; 
The   noisy  rills  are  dry,  the  brooks  creep  from  dead  pools  to 

pools, 
Beneath  whose  banks  the  crowded  fry  scarce  hide  their  finny 

schools  ; 
The  buzzing  tribes  annoy  the  air  with  angry  hum  and  sting  ; 
The  panting  fowls  hide  close,  and   fear  the  falcon's  hovering 

wing  ; 
The  gasping  birds  forget    their  songs  and  droop  in  cheerless 

shade  ; 
The  grasshopper,  and  locust,  dread,  like  fire  the  world  invade  ; 
The  ground   is   fevered,   chapped,  and  baked;  with   dust   the 

travellers  choke  ; 
Sparks  light  the  meads,  the    forests  flame,  the   swamps  and 

marshes  smoke  : 
No  more  the  fig-tree  blossoms  fair,  no  fruit  is  in  the  vine  ; 
The  centuried   olive's  labor  fails,  the   corn-fields    droop  and 

pine; 
The  flocks,  cut  off,  leave  empty  folds,  that  need  no  shepherd's 

care  ; 
The  herds  are  perished  from   the  stalls,  devoured,  consumed, 

and  bare  ! 
Famine  !    Dire  Famine,  gaunt  and  grim,  stalks  o'er  the  guilty 

land  ! 
And  stark  Starvation  leads  behind  a  glowering,  ghastly  band 


24  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

Of  woes  and  scourges,  sorrows,  crimes,  shames,  miseries  un- 
told, 

That  bow,  and  blast,  and  grind  men's  souls,  with  agony  grown 
old  ! 

IV. 

Three  years,  three  direful,  nameless  years,  since  heaven's 
great  azure  eye 

Has  dropped  one  pitying  tear  on  man,  from  that  remorseless 
sky  ! 

And  still  the  burning  days  roll  on,  and  torturing  months  drift 
past, 

Each  fiercer  in  its  fiery  stress,  more  fearful  than  the  last  ! 

But  where  is  he,  that  vengeful  seer,  whose  word  like  lightning 
fell 

On  king  and  court, — enchained  and  dumb  'neath  that  un- 
earthly spell  ? 

From  realm  to  realm  the  stern  demand  has  vainly  sought  its 
prey, 

While  lulled  by  Cherith's  rippling  wave  secure  the  hermit 
lay. 

At  morn  and  even,  a  strange  long  year,  by  heaven's  deep  man- 
date taught, 

On  noiseless  wing  his  bread  and  meat  the  conscious  ravens 
brought ; 

Before  his  grot  the  torrent's  wave  his  daily  thirst  sup- 
plied, 

And  God's  great  lore  rapt  more  and  more  his  soul  from  all 
beside. 


ELIJAH   THE   REFORMER.  25 

One  year  alone  with  God,  the  Infinite  !     Ah,  who  can  tell 
How  high,    how   vast,   the  human  soul   such   fellowship    may 

swell  ! 
How  earth  sinks  down,  how  heaven's  calm  orb  the    soaring 

mind  inspheres, 
Space,  time,  form,  motion,  substance,  self,  all  lost  when   God 

appears  ! 
But    seraphs   quit,   to    toil   for   man,   the    throne's    unuttered 

glow, 
And  God  himself,  incarnate,  stooped  to  die  for  mortal  woe  , 
And  so,  from  raptest  heights  sublime,  from  ecstasies  unknown. 
Devotion's  wing  must  earthward  bend  at  sorrow's  humblest 

moan. 

V. 

No  rain  !     E'en  Cherith's  bed  ran  dry  !    Then  far  in  Zidon's 

land 
Sarepta's  gate  the  prophet  saw,  a  pilgrim,  staff  in  hand. 
The  famished  widow  heard  his  plaint,  Faith  triumphed  o'er  her 

fears, 
She  gave  her  all,   and   lo,   the   store  fed   all,  for  months   and 

years  ! 
But  there,  'mid  that  long  miracle,  while  haggard  Famine  fled, 
Dire  sickness   smote  her  one   proud   boy  ;  her  only  boy  lay 

dead  : 
Then,  anguish-wrung,  "  O  Man  of  God,"  she  cried,  with  grief 

undone, 
"  Why  hast  thou  brought  my  sin  to  mind  !  Why  hast  thou  slain 

my  son  !" 


26  ELIJAH   THE  REFORMER. 

Ah,  who  can  tell  how  tenderness  sleeps  'neath  the  sternest  face, 
And  adamantine  heroes  catch  from  tears  their  noblest  grace. 
So  he,  whose  look  awed  Ahab's   throne,  now  clasps  that  cold 

dead  child, 
And  flies  to  God  with  human  cry,  sharp,  passionate,  and  wild. 
"  O  God,  why  hast  thou  evil  brought  !     O  God,  send  back  this 

soul  !" 
And  thrice  he   grasped   that   lifeless  form,  till  Faith,  through 

Death's  control, 
Burst  its  strong  way,  and  chased  on  wing  that  spirit  in  its 

flight 
Through  worlds  unknown,  till  'neath  God's  throne  it  claimed 

him  as  its  right, 
And  God   said,  "  Go,   return!"     Then  life  leapt  through  that 

frozen  blood, 
And   Love   cried  :   "  Lo,   by   this   I   know   thou   art   a  seer  of 

God  !" 

VI. 

No  rain  !     No  dew  !    The  last  streams  fail.     The  fields  are 

dust  and  sand  ; 
No   bread  remains,  and  ghastly  fear   hangs  dim   o'er  all  the 

land. 
Then  royal  Ahab  rose  to  save  his  matchless  steeds  of  state, 
And  passed  with  Obadiah  forth  from  high  Samaria's  gate. 
"  Go  through  the  land,  search  all  the  springs,  perchance  some 

grass  remains 
In  mountain  dells,  or   marge  of   lakes,  or   Jordan's    flooded 

plains." 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  27 

Each  fared  his  way,  the  search  was  vain  :  then  God  bespake 

his  seer  : 
"  Go  meet  proud  Ahab,  fear  him  not,  my  time   for  rain  draws 

near." 
Then  came  the  word,  "  Elijah  calls  !"    In  haste  the  monarch 

turned, 
While  long-nursed  hate  and  mad  revenge  within  him  fiercely 

burned  : 
"  Is't   thou,    thou  troubler  of  this  land  ?"    in   instant   rage  he 

cries  ; 
"  Xot  7,  but  thou,  art  Israel's  curse  !"  that  iron  lip  replies  ; 
"  Because  Jehovah's  law  ye  scorn,  in  Baal  to  delight  ! 
Go  bring  all  Israel  now  to  me,  on  Carmel's  hallowed  height  ; 
Bring  Baal's  seers,  four  hundred  men   and  fifty,  bring   them 

all, 
And   those  four  hundred    more  who  feast  in  Jezebel's   lewd 

hall  !" 
The  monarch  heard  ;  on  Carmel's  crown  now  swarms  a  count- 
less throng, 
With  one  brave  soul  to  stand  for  God  'gainst  myriads  in  the 

wrong. 
On    Carmel's  crown,    that   far  o'erlooks    Esdraelon's    mighty 

plain, 
Whence  ancient  Kishon's   gathered  streams  roll  westward  to 

the  main. 
There  Barak's  '  host,  at  Deborah's  word,  on  Sisera's  chariots 

fell, 

1  Judges,  chapters  4  and  5. 


28  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

And  Kishon  rose  to  whelm  God's  foes  with  sudden,  wrathful 

swell. 
There    Gideon's    band  from  Canaan's  land  the  fierce  invader 

swept, 
And  there  fell  Saul  and  Jonathan,  while  Israel's  daughters  wept. 
There  good  Josiah  '  rashly  fought,  and  fell,  when  Egypt's  lord, 
Inspired,     though     Gentile,    prophesied    Jehovah's    warning 

word. 
There,  age  on  age,   millenniums  through,   have  realms    been 

lost  and  won, 
There  Gog  and  Magog*  fall  at  last,  before  God's  Conquering 

Son. 
But  not  till  earth's  last  conflict  joins  Esdraelon  shall  behold 
A   grander  day   than   that  which  dawned  on  Carmel's  top  of 

old, 
When   God's   great   prophet   dared    a    realm,   its   priests   and 

king  defied, 
And  stood  alone  for  God  and  right,  no  mortal  on  his  side  ! 

VII. 

Then  through  that  throng,  with  heart  on  fire,  he  preached 

Jehovah's  law, 
To  rouse  their  hearts  to  patriot  glow,  or  thrill  with  heavenly 

awe  ; 
"  How  long  thus  halt,  ignobly  dumb  !  nor  own  your   Maker's 

claim  ! 

1  II.  Chron.  35  :  20-24. 

2  Rev.  20  :  8,  9,  and  16  :  16,  and  poem  "  Armageddon,"  p.  202. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  29 

If  he  be  God,  serve  him  !     If  not,  then  bow  to  Baal's  shame  !" 
Xo  answering  word  !     Xot  one  ?     O  God,  can  truth  be  sunk 

so  low, 
That  not  a  nation's  challenged  host  one  champion  can  show  ? 
O  sight  to  make  brave  angels  blush,  and  stir  th'  Eternal  ire, 
When  conscious  millions,  coward  souls,  tread  manhood  in  the 

mire, 
Choke  conscience  down,  and  stifle  shame,  and  'neath  the  sun's 

broad  smile, 
Stand  basely  weak,  flout  heaven,  and   dare — dare  only  to  be 

vile  ! 
Then  spake  that  dauntless  soul  :   "  I  stand  alone  God's  prophet 

here, 
But  Baal  boasts  four  hundred  men,  elate  with  royal  cheer  ; 
Let  them  therefore  bring  bullocks  twain,  and  choose  and  slay 

their  own, 
And  on  a  fireless  altar  pile,  invoking  Baal  alone. 
Your  Sun-god    strong,    whose   realm   is   fire,   whose  crown   is 

dazzling  rays. 
Let   him,   in   his   own   realm   defied,    defend    his    crown,    and 

blaze  ! 
But  I'll  invoke  Jehovah's  name,  and  he  whose  flame  replies. 
Let  him  be  God  !" — The  nation  hears,  and  answering  plaudits 

rise. 
Evasion  past,   the  steers  are  brought,   and    Baal's  offering 

slain : 
From   early   morn   till   glowing   noon   his   followers    howl    in 

vain  ; 


30  ELIJAH   THE   REFORMER. 

Fierce,   frantic,  wild,  they    beat   the   ground,   and  gash   their 

reeking  sides, 
While    biting    sarcasm    does    its  work,    and    righteous    scorn 

derides. 
"  Cry  out !    Bawl  '  loud  !    He's  sure  a  god  !     Perchance  brown 

study  sways 
His  absent  thoughts  ;  or  nature's  call,  like  mortals,  he  obeys  ; 8 
Perchance  he  journeys  !    Nay,  perchance  he  takes  his  nap  at 

noon  ; 
Bawl  louder  !     Split  his  stupid  ears  !    You'll  surely  rouse  him 

soon  !" 
They  leap,  they  bound,  they  wheel  and  spin,  in  furious  frenzy 

whirled — 
The  mad,  demoniac  Dervish-dance  of  all  the  Orient  world  ! 
The  dream   that  puts  mere  flesh  for  faith,  mere  muscle  puts 

for  mind, 
Excitement   puts    for    God,  and    leads    unreasoning    millions 

blind. 
Ah,  dark  Fanaticism  !  still  in  every  age  the  same, 
For  thee,  through  all  time's  years,  ne'er  yet  from  heaven  one 

answer  came. 
Strange  imps  alone,  and  goblins  weird,  flock  gibbering  at  thy 

cry, 
When  God  binds  these,  not  hell  itself  can  mutter  one  reply. 

1    Bawl,  the  literal  rendering  of  the  Hebrew. 

e  Whedon,  in  /or.,  and  R.  Y.     A  just  sarcasm  on  the  heathen  relig- 
ions.    Jud.  3  :  24- 


ELIJAH    THE  REFORMER.  31 

VIII. 

Then,  while  the  sunset   hour  sped  on,  in   accents  bold  and 

clear, 
Elijah  bade  th'  attesting  tribes  to  mark  his  deed  draw  near. 
God's  ancient  altar,  far-renowned  in  centuries  of  yore, 
A  shapeless,  moss-grown  heap,  he  rears  with  pious  care  once 

more, 
And   twelve  fresh  stones  he  adds,  each  tribe  presenting  thus 

anew 
To  plead  with  God  that  changeless  vow  to  Abraham's  offspring 

due. 
The  victim    bleeds,  the  pile   is  scanned   by  strict  and  hostile 

eyes  ; 
Then,  in  the  gaze  of  thousand  foes,  aloud  once  more  he  cries, 
"  From  yon  perennial  fountain  pour  four  barrels  on  the  shrine, 
Once,    twice,  and  thrice  !"     'Tis   done.      On  stole  the  sacred 

hour  divine. 
The  hour  of  evening  sacrifice,  when  God,  of  old  attent, 
Had   heard   well-pleased   man's  voice  in  prayer,  and  many  an 

answer  sent. 
Then  forth  he  stood,  that  one  weird  man,  before  dark  Ahab's 

throne, 
While  Baal's  seers  glanced  vengeance  fell,  and  called  on  God 

alone. 
O'er  ocean's  boundless   breast,  afar,  warm   tides  of  splendor 

rolled. 
Where  the  great  sun,  his  day's  course  done,  swam  down  a  sea 

of  gold  ; 


32  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

And    woods,   and    slopes,   and   bosky  dells,   in    heaven's    own 

brightness  glowed, 
All  nature,  crowned,  stood  reverent  'round,  to  hail  her  con- 
quering God. 
Sublime,  serene,  that   lone   form   looms,  embathed  in  sunset 

now. 
And  more  than  mortal  majesty  is  gleaming  on  his  brow  : 
He     prays  :     his    few    calm,    clarion    tones    on    night's    faint 

zephyrs  swell  : 
"Jehovah,  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  Israel, 
Let   it  be  known  this  day  that  Thou  in  Israel  art  Lord, 
and  i,  thy  servant,   all  these  things  have  done  but  at 

THY  WORD  !" 

He  ceased.     See  !  see  !    A  ruddier  flash  o'erspreads  the  pomp 

on  high  ! 
An  awful  cloud  of  beamy  fire  sweeps  eddying  down  the  sky  ! 
And  from   its   sparkling  bosom   fall  broad  sheets  of  blinding 

flame, 
While  thunders  shock  the  trembling  world,  and  peal  Jehovah's 

name  ! 
The  fiery   whirlpool  falls  !     In  flame   consumed   th'   oblation 

flies  ! 
And  water,  dust,  and  calcined  stones,  have  vanished  from  their 

eyes  ! 
The  trench  alone,  with  cinders   strewn,  remains  to  mark  the 

pyre, 
YVIiere   God   most   High,    at    a   mortal's    cry,  answered   from 

heaven  by  fire  ! 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  33 

Then,    from    a    prostrate    nation,   rose    the    long   and    loud 
acclaim, 
"  The  Lord  is  God  !     The   Lord  is  God  !     Jehovah   is  his 

NAME  !" 

From  rank  to  rank,  through  camps  and  tribes,  the  shout  rang 

glad  and  free, 
Like  trumpets  echoing  through   the   hills,  or  thunders  of  the 

sea  ! 
"  The  Lord  is  God  !  The  Lord  is  God  !"    The  clouds  roll  back 

the  sound, 
And  airy  tongues,  from  height  to  height,  the  answering  shout 

rebound. 
Then   rose   that   fateful   voice    once    more  :     "  Take    Baal's. 

prophets,  all  ! 
Let    none    escape  !"    A    nation,  roused,    obeys    the    righteous 

call; 
And  Kishon's  ancient  stream,  that  erst  whelmed  Jabin's  proud 

array, 
With  impious  gore  ran  red  once  more,  on  God's  great  reckon- 
ing day. 
And   still   the  wandering    Arab    points    where    fell   Jehovah's 

flame, 
And  bows  with  awe,  where  kings  have  stood  and  trembled  at 

that  name  : 
The   hollow  burned   in   Carmel's  crest,  the   rock  by  Kishon's 

flood, 
Jehovah's  changeless  witnesses,  his  seals  of  fire  and  blood. 


34  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

IX. 

Lo,  now,  where  Carmel's  topmost  dome  o'erlooks  the  west- 
ern deep, 

Two  shadowy  forms,  while  daylight  fades,  their  high,  lone 
vigil  keep. 

One  prostrate  travails,  bowed  to  dust,  by  prayer's  strong 
anguish  pressed, 

And  one  stands  tall  against  the  sky,  and  scans  the  darkening 
west. 

Lo,  God's  great  prophet  prays  for  rain  !  A  mortal  and  a 
worm 

Wrestles  with  Him  who  guides  the  winds,  whose  chariot  is  the 
storm  ! 

Wrestles  with  that  resistless  might  all-conquering  faith  sup- 
plies, 

Till  God  cries  "  Hold  !  Thou  hast  thy  wish  !"  That  answer 
thrilled  the  skies  ! 

O'er  ocean's  waste  the  wandering  mists  a  strange  compulsion 
owned, 

The  freshening  night-breeze  moister  blew,  more  deep  the  surf 
wail  moaned  ; 

41  Go  look  again,  seven  times  !"  The  seventh  a  dull  and 
brassy  band 

Along  the  far  horizon  grew,  and,  like  a  human  hand, 

Orte  speck  of  cloud  rose  slow,  and  spread  along  the  laboring 
air, 

That  breathless  hung,  or  quivering  owned  the  tempest  gath- 
ering there. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  35 

"  Up  !     Fly  to  Ahab  !     Bid  him  yoke,  and  speed  his  chariot 

down, 
Xor   halt  for   rain  through  all    the  plain,  till  safe  in  Jezreel's 

town  !" 
E'en   while   he   mounts  the   clouds  grow  black,  they  toil,  and 

writhe  and  roll, 
In  angry  majesty  of  gloom,  like  night,  from  pole  to  pole  ! 
Winds  rend  the  mountain  !     Thunders  boom  !     Forked  light- 
nings crash  around  ! 
Great  pattering  drops  fall  fast  !     A  hush  !     A  rising,  rushing 

sound, 
And    then,  with    smoke,  and    surge,  and    roar,  the    great  rain 

smites  the  ground. 
The   windy  deluge   howls  and  raves,  but  through  its  blinding 

wrack 
God's   servant  feels   Jehovah's   hand,   like  whirlwinds,  at    his 

back  ; 
And,  girt,  before    the    bounding    steeds,  on    tireless    foot    he 

springs, 
Xor  halts,  till,  late,  at  Jezreel's  gate   he  lights,  fresh  as  from 

wings ! 

X. 

O  rain  !    Sweet  rain  !    Baptismal  rain  !    When  Nature's  pulse 

grows  faint, 
When,    fever-blasted,    earth    expires,    or    gasps   her   voiceless 

plaint, 
Then  welcome,  summer's  mighty  rain  !     Pour,  heaven's  best 

blessing,  pour  ! 


36  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

Leap,  keen  wild  lightnings,  through  the  gloom  !     Glad  thun- 
ders shout  and  roar  ! 
Pour  on  !  surge  on  !  ye  sky-born  floods  !    Drink,  Earth,  O  drink 

thy  fill  ! 
Up  !  chip  your  hands,  ye  streams  new-born,  and  laugh  from 

every  hill  ! 
Lift  your    great  arms,   ye   mighty  groves  !     Fling  out    your 

bannered  leaves ! 
And  bend  your  tops  in  billowy  joy,  as  the  blue  ocean  heaves  ! 
Wake  from   the  dust,  ye  perished  flowers,  put  on  your  bright 

array  ! 
Burst  into  green,  ye  thankful  fields  !     Birds,  tune  your  gladdest 

lay  ! 
Skip  o'er  the  hills,  ye  blithesome  flocks  !     Herds,  gambol  on  the 

plain  ! 
Go  forth, O  man,  and  bless  thy  God,  who  gives  the  summer  rain  ! 

Part  Third.     From  Carmel  to  Sinai. 

I. 

Ah,   Earth    can    cool    her   fiery  rage,  when   heaven's   sweet 

showers  descend, 
And  godless  man,  e'en  from  a  throne,  before  God's  voice  can 

bend  ; 
But  O,  what  power  shall  tame  the  mad,  unreasoning,  frantic  tide 
Of  woman's  passion,  vanity,  ambition,  foiled,  defied  ! 
"  So  do  my  gods  to  me,  and  more,  before  to-morrow's  shade, 
If  like  the  life  of  those,  my  seers,  thy  life  I  have  not  made  !" 


ELIJAH   THE   REFORMER.  37 

So  raved  the  Tyrian  sorceress,  unawed  by  God's  own  hand, 
While   he    whose  word  the    lightnings  heard  fled,  trembling, 

from  the  land  ! 
From  Jezreel  fair,  through  Issachar,  Manasseh,  Ephraim  wide, 
Through  Benjamin  his  swift  course  sped,  and  Judah,  Israel's 

pride, 
Till  far  beyond  Beersheba's  wells,  the  green  world's  southern 

bound, 
Alone  he  trod  the  sandy  waste,  the  desert's  dread  profound. 

II. 
The  Desert  !     Earth  herself,  at  last,  a  ruin  dark  and  wild, 
A  mother  with  an  iron  breast,  and  brow  that  never  smiled; 
That  never  down  her  stony  face  has  dropped  one  tender  tear; 
Vastness  and  silence  !  solitude  sublime,  and  stern,  and  drear  ! 
But  ah,  from  man's  apostate  shame,  how  welcome  Nature's 

frown  ! 
Refuge  for  hunted  souls  more  sweet  than  grandeur's  lap  of 

down  ; 
Nurse  of  strong  spirits,  school  where  God   forever  felt  and 

nigh, 
Bids  mortals  rise  and  walk  the  skies,  and  breathe  eternity. 

ni 

On,  on  along  the  trackless  waste,  through  all  that  burning 
day, 
The  exile  marched,  with  none  but    God  to  guide  his  lonely 
way  ; 


38  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

At   sunset,  'neath  a  stunted  shrub  his  fainting  frame  he  cast, 
And  cried/'  Great  God,  so  near  me  now,  let  this  day  be  my  last  ! 
I  am  not  better  than  my  sires,  before  thy  foes  who  fell  ; 
Lo,   'tis  enough  !    I  long    in    peace,  with    them  and    thee,  to 

dwell  !" 
Thus  he  who  dares  a  realm  in  arms,  whose  eagle  faith  brings 

down 
Fires,  lightnings,  whirlwinds  at  his  word,  on   Carmel's   awful 

crown, — 
Whose  thews  of  steel  with  Ahab's  wheel  for  four  long  leagues 

keep  pace 
As  on  he  speeds  his  foaming  steeds  through  all  that  headlong 

race, — 
In  mortal  weakness  faints  at  last,  when  all  the  strife  is  o'er  ; — 
What  marvel  heroes  falter  once,  where  millions  falter  more  ! 
Then  heaven's  best,  sweetest  benison,  for  God's  beloved  kept, 
Stole  soft  o'er  every  languid  sense,  and,  bathed  in  balm,  he 

slept. 
"  Rise,  eat  !"    Beside  the  blossoming  broom  3  a  mild-eyed  angel 

stands  ! 
A  cake  on  coals,1  a  cooling  draught,  are  near  him  on  the  sands  : 
He  eats  and  sleeps.     Once  more  that  voice  :  "  Thy  journey  is 

too  long, 
God  feeds  and  guides  the  souls  he  loves.     Rise,  eat  and  drink, 

be  strong  !" 
Then  forty  days  and   forty  nights,  unhungering  and  untired, 

1  Sec  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyc,  Article  "Juniper." 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  39 

Through  Paran's  boundless  solitudes  he  moved,  with  strength 

inspired, 
Till  Horeb's  giant  form,  afar,  rose  shadowy  on  his  sight, 
And  now  he  trod  the  mount  of  God,  on  Sinai's  awful  height. 
O  mount  of  God,  earth's  grandest  mount,  thy  hoary  peaks 

sublime, 
Jehovah's  witnesses,  still  speak  his  praise  through  earth  and 

time  ! 
On  thee  the  law  that  lights  the  world,  'mid  light  from  heaven 

was  given, 
And  God's  great  name  he  wrote  in  flame  on  marbles  thunder- 
riven  ! 
Oh,  meet  thy  lone  and  silent  crags,  for  him  who  strove  once 

more 
To  bring  back  man  to  heaven's  pure  plan  revealed  on  thee  of 

yore  ! 
Aye,  meet  the  great  Restorer  stand  where  the  Lawgiver  stood 
Six  hundred  years  before,  and  so  talk  face  to  face  with  God  ! 

IV. 

"What   doest  thou   here,   Elijah?"     Hark!    that  voice,   like 

organ's  swell, 
Calm,  deep,  divine,  seolian-toned,  these  rocks  remember  well. 
Through  vales  and  dells  and  chasms  and  caves  the  breeze-like 

murmurs  roll: 
Then  in  his  cavern,  reverent  bowed,  replies  that  listening  soul: 
"  Lord  God  of  hosts,  for  thy  great  name  my  zeal  like  fire  has 

burned, 


40  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

For  Israel's  seed  have  scorned  thy  law,  thy  holy  altars  spurned; 
Thy  priests  are  fled  ;  thy  seers  are  slain  ;  one  only  breathes, 

and  he, 
Hunted    for  life,  from  rage  and    strife,  flees,  trembling,  Lord, 

to  thee  !" 
"  Go   forth  and  stand   upon  the  mount,  before   the   Lord." 

He  went, 
While  God  passed  by.     A  mighty  wind  the  rock-ribbed  moun- 
tain rent  ; 
Before  that  black  tornado's  stream  the  rent  rocks  whirl  and 

crash, 
Till  splintered  granite  flies  like  boughs  when  lightning  rends 

the  ash  ! 
But  God  was  not  in  all  the  storm.     Then  woke  an  earthquake's 

shock  ; 
Plains  roll  in  waves,  hills  skip  like  lambs,  the  globe's  founda- 
tions rock  ; 
Crags  torn  from  crags  down  gulfs  unknown  dash  thundering 

through  the  gloom, 
Earth,  shuddering,  groans  and  reels  and  moans,  and  dreads 

her  latest  doom. 
God  was  not  there.     The  murky  air  flashed  forth  in  omens  dire, 
And  lambent  flames  dart  dazzling  'round,  and  wrap  the  mount 

in  fire  ; 
From  cliff  to  cliff,  from  peak  to  peak,  pale   ghostly  lightning 

plays  ; 
The  rocks  explode  !     On  Alpine  spires  an  hundred  beacons 

blaze  ! 


ELIJAH   THE   REFORMER.  41 

An  hundred  white  St.  Elmos  dance  on  every  gleaming  height  ! 

An  hundred  weird  auroras  arch  the  mount  with  wizard  light  ! 

But  God  was  not  in  wind,  nor  flame,  nor  earthquake's  Titan 
jar. 

They  only  flew  before  his   march,   glad  heralds    of   his  car  : 

A  hush  profound.     Then,  like  the  thrill  of  night-winds  through 
the  pine. 

Once  more  that  still,  small  voice  swelled  clear,  harmoniously 
divine. 
Then    rose    the  seer,  with  mantled   head,   and   heard,  with 
reverent  awe. 

"  What  doest  thou  here,  Elijah  ?    Go,  avenge  my  outraged  law. 

Make  crafty  Hazael,  Syria's  king,  in  fair  Damascus'  gate, 

And  fiery  Jehu,  Ximshi's  son,  anoint  o'er  Israel's  state  ; 

Then  speed  where  Shaphat's  pious  heir  ploughs  Abel's  deep- 
tilled  soil 

With  twelve  strong  yokes,  and  on  him  pour  the  olive's  hal- 
lowing oil, 

Seer    in    thy    stead,  —  a    threefold    doom!     Who   'scapes    the 
Syrian's  sword 

Shall  Jehu  slay  ;  who  flees  from  him  dies  at  Elisha's  word  ! 

Yet  know  thou  well  that  not  alone  thou  standest  true  to  me  ; 

Seven   thousand    loyal  souls   remain,  who  ne'er  have   bowed 
the  knee 

At  Baal's  foul,  ignoble  shrine,  nor  kissed  his  form  profane  ; 

Take  heart,  faith  lives,  and  from  the  dust  my  truth  shall  rise 
and  reign." 


42  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER, 

Part    Fourth.     From  Sinai  to  Nebo. 
I. 

Slow  years  roll  on.     Wars  come  and  go.     Samaria's  guilty 

towers 
Are  saved  by  God,  whose  arm,  belied,  smites  Syria's  banded 

powers. 
Peace  comes  once  more,  and  field  and  town  alike  her  empire 

bless, 
And  cities  build,  and  vineyards  bloom  with  thrift  and  plen- 

teousness. 
And  none  more  fair  than  Naboth's   smiled,  by  Jezreel's  shel- 
tering wall, 
Hard  by  where,  bowered  in  groves  divine,  rose  Ahab's  Ivory 

Hall. 
For  broad  domains  and  gardens  fair  Samaria's  lord  still  sighs, 
And  oft  on  Naboth's  vine-clad  slopes  he  bends  insatiate  eyes. 
But   the   bold  yeoman  claims   with   pride  the  freehold  of  his 

sires, 
For  in  his  sturdy,  steadfast  soul,  glow  freedom's  native  fires. 
Then    despot    power  and    slavish    fear  must    stairi  the   earth 

once  more, 
And  free-born  Naboth,  outraged,  slain,  lies  weltering  in  his 

gore  ! 
"  Rise  !    Seize  thy  wish  !"    the   harpy   cries  ;    "  that    stubborn 

churl  lies  dead  !" 
Then    forth    to   grasp    the    blood-stained    field    the    perjured 

tyrant  sped. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  43 

With  eager  eyes  he  scans  the  prize,  he  bursts  the  vineyard 

gate- 
Then  halts,  aghast  !     Before   him  starts   that    awful  form  of 

fate  ! 
"  Hast  found  me,  O  mine  enemy  ?"  in  cowering  fear  he  cries  : 
"  I  have  found    thee  !"  in   tones   of  doom  that   dreaded   voice 

replies. 
"  Because  before  Jehovah's  sight  thy  manhood  thou  hast  sold, 
Thy  sceptre,  too,  all  crime  and  wrong  to  work  for    lust    and 

gold, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord,  all  miseries  dire  shall  haunt  thy  guilty 

life  ; 
Thy    seed   shall   fail,  thy   manly   race   cut   off    in   shame   and 

strife  ; 
Thy  house,  like  that  of  Xebat's  son,  in  infamy  shall  stand, 
A  proverb  of  reproach,  a  curse  and  warning  in  this  land  ! 
Who  dies  of  Ahab  in  the  town  devouring  dogs  shall  tear  ; 
Who  dies  abroad  shall  feed,  abhorred,  the  carrion  birds    of 

air  ! 
Yea,  Jezebel,  by  Jezreel's  wall,  the  howling  pack  shall  rend. 
Till    Naboth's    blood,  required   by   God,  pursue  thee    to   the 

end  !" 
The  king,  appalled,  his  purple  rent,  in  terror,  fear,  and  shame  ; 
The   Tishbite  dread   unanswering  sped,  and  vanished    as   he 

came. 

II. 

On  roll  the  years  of  strife  and  sin.     On  works  that  withering 
doom  ! 


44  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

'Neath   Ramoth's  towers  the  Syrian   shaft  sends  Ahab  to  the 

tomb. 
Vain  his  disguise,  his  treachery  vain,  God  wings  the  doubtful 

dart, 
As,  vengeful,  through  the  conscious  air,  it  seeks  th'  apostate's 

heart. 
Dogs  lap  his  blood  by  Jezreel's  pool,  deaths  chase  his  godless 

son, 
Moab  rebels,  new  perils  rise,  the  kingdom  is  undone. 

Then,    death-struck,    on    his    couch    of    pain,    cried    Ahab's 

impious  heir, 
"  Send  swift  to  Ekron's  god,  and  ask  of  Baal-Zebub,  there, 
If  from  this  wound  I  yet  shall  live  ?"    In  haste  th'  embassage 

hies, 
When,  spectre-like,  an  unknown  form  confronts  their  startled 

eyes  ! 
Aged,  but  unbent  by  years,  he  stood  ;  a  man  of  iron  frame, 
Broad-browed  and  bronzed,  with  port  sublime,  and  eyes  that 

smote  like  flame. 
His    shaggy    robe,    untanned,    and    black,  was    spoiled    from 

mountain  fold, 
And    down    his    breast    his    mighty   beard,  a    silver   cataract 

rolled. 
A  leathern  case  of  parchment  rolls  across    his  bosom  hung, 
And  at  his  side,  in  leathern  scrip,  his  scanty  rations  swung. 
A  strong  acacia's  time-worn  stem  that  owned  the  toils  of  years, 
His   left  hand  grasped  ;  his  right,  upraised,   proclaimed    the 

prince  of  seers. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  45 

He  asked  not  who,  nor  whence,  nor  why  they  sped,  but  like  a 

knell 
Whose  midnight  clang  stuns  with  a  pang,  the  fateful  message 

fell. 
"  Is  it  because  no  God  remains  in  Israel's  land,  accurst. 
Ye    seek    a    heathen    shrine    obscene,    their   vilest    and    their 

worst  ? 
The  fly-god  foul,  at  Ekron's  shrine,  Philistia's  hostile  boast  ? 
Is   Shiloh   fled  ?     Are    patriots   dead  ?     Are    faith   and   shame 

both  lost  ? 
Back    to   the    king  ye    serve,  and   say,   thus    saith    the    Lord 

most  high, 
1  Hope   not   to   quit   that  couch  of  pain,  but  know   that  thou 

shalt  die  ! 
For  Naboth's  blood   from  Ahab's  line  shall  ne'er  be  washed 

away. 
Till  kings  shall  learn  the  rights  of   man,  and   own  Jehovah's 

sway  !'  " 
Back  through  Samaria's  lofty  gates  the  awestruck  courtiers 

fled  ; 
They  told  their  tale  ;  the  monarch  raved,  yet  trembled,  on  his 

bed. 
"  'Tis  he  !  'Tis  he  !  our  ancient  foe,  the  Tishbite  wild  !"  he  cries  ; 
"  Ho  !    Guards  !    Up  !    Mount  !    This  day  I  swear  that  hoary 

rebel  dies  !" 

III. 

The  gates   fly  wide.     With  clattering  rout  the  fifty  thunder 
past  ; 


46  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

O'er   hill   and    plain  sweeps   on  the  train,  till  Carmel  looms  at 

last. 
There,  near   his   grot,  and   'mid  his  schools,  the  prophet  sits 

serene. 
Where  Carmel's  side,  o'er  landscapes  wide,  uplifts  its  wall  of 

green  ; 
Where  sweeps  the  view  o'er  hills  and  groves,  vineyards,  and 

golden  grain, 
Eastward  to  Jordan's  gorge  profound,  and  westward  to  the 

main. 
"  Thou  man  of  God,  the  king  hath  said  come  down  !"  in  rough 

command 
The   captain   shouts,  with    brandished  sword  that  glitters  in 

his  hand. 
"  If   such   I   am,  let   fire  from   heaven  consume  thee,  and  thy 

crew  !" 
The  dread  seer  spake  ;  that  voice  of  old  th'  obedient  light- 
nings knew  ; 
One  blinding  flash,  with  instant  crash,  shakes  heaven's  blue 

calm  profound, 
And  all  that  impious  troop  lie  scorched  and  blackened  on  the 

ground  ! 
Swift  speeds  the  tale  ;   the  next  fierce  band  lies   blasted  with 

the  first, 
Till  e'en  dark  Baal's  votaries  dread  Jehovah's  thunder-burst  ; 
But  still  that  mad,  unhumbled  wretch,  by  sin's  last  fury  driven, 
Makes  warwith  God,  whose  bolts,  defied,  his  armaments  have 

riven. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER,  47 

His  rage  obeyed,  one  fifty  more  in  silent  terror  ride, 

But  halt  far  off  ;  their  chief  alone  climbs  Carmel's  fire-scathed 

side  ; 
'Mid  ghastly  forms  of  steed  and  man,  in  mangled  disarray. 
Still   frowning  godless  hate  in  death,  he  takes  his  trembling 

way  : 
"  O  man  of  God,  spare,  spare  these  souls  !"  he  cries,  and  pros- 
trate falls, 
O'erwhelmed  with  awe.     God's  angel  saw,  and  thus,  unseen, 

he  calls  : 
"  Rise,  go  down  with  him,  fear  him  not,  Jehovah  guards  thy 

path  !" 
Then,  calm  and  clear,  the  dauntless  seer  meets  all  an  empire's 

wrath  : 
The    same    dire  words,   nor    more,  nor    less,  he    speaks  ; — no 

tongue  replies  ; 
Fear  palsies   all.     He    quits   the   hall  ;    the   mad   blasphemer 

dies. 

IV. 

Jehoram  reigns.   Still  Ahab's  seed,  by  Naboth's  blood  pursued, 
Shall  prove  that  dire,  relentless  curse  that   haunts   the  mur- 
derer's brood. 
In  Edom's  vale,  by  Moab's  bounds,  Elisha's  awful  word 
Brings  stern  rebuke  for  Ahab's  sin,  but  rescue  from  the  Lord. 
For  David's  son  the  burning  waste  with  cooling   streams  o'er- 

flows, 
And  Israel's  sword,  in  wrath   divine,    o'erwhelms  her   envious 
foes. 


4>S  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

False   Syria's   powers   against   God's   land  plot  oft  their  dark 
campaign, 

But    one    man's    word,   forewarned    of    God,    makes   all  their 

onsets  vain. 
Samaria,  saved,  attests  his  power,  whom  fiery  hosts  attend  ; 
But  glory  flees  from  Ahab's  line  that  nears  its  direful  end. 
From  Ramoth's  towers,  where  Ahab  fell,  the  smitten  Joram 

flies  ; 
From    Ramoth's    towers,    ordained    by    God,   the    fiery    Jehu 

hies, 
Anointed  king  by  Heaven's  command  in  Joram's  forfeit  place, 
And  called  to  wipe  from  earth  the  last  of  Ahab's  guilty  race. 
By   Naboth's   field,  with   vengeful   arm,   he   bends    a  mighty 

bow, 
Whose   lightning  shaft  unerring  speeds,  and  lays  th'  apostate 

low. 
In  Naboth's  plot,  God's  word  fulfilled,  th'  insulted  corse  is  cast, 
And  Jehu's  wheels  toward  Jezreel's  gates  burn  onward   fierce 

and  fast. 
re  Jezebel's   still  tameless   pride  with  scorn  the  conqueror 

hailed, 
Fierce  Jezebel,  before  whose  hate  sublime  Elijah  quailed  ! 
False  Jezebel,   whose   ruthless   craft   not   Naboth's   life   with- 
stood ! 
Foul  Jezebel,  whose   baleful  spell  wrought  woes,  a  boundless 

flood, 
Whose  whoredoms,  witchcrafts,  sorceries,  had   filled   the  land 

with  blood  ! 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  49 

From   where   her  palace   window   high   o'erhangs    the  gate's 

proud  arch. 
With    shameless    brow    and    spiteful    tongue    she    taunts    the 

conqueror's  march  ; 
Till,  from  her  lofty  casement  flung,  her  battered,  gory  frame 
Beneath  th'  avenger's  heel  is  trod,  then  left  to  dogs  and  shame. 
The   howling   pack,  foretold   of   God,    her  mangled   members 

rend  ; 
The  proverb  of  her  sex  in  pride,  in  infamy,  and  end  ! 
And  seventy  heads   of   Ahab's   sons,    in   ghastly   heaps,    next 

morn. 
In  retribution  swift  and  stark,  his  ivory  gates  adorn  ; 
Till  righteous  Xaboth's  guiltless  blood,  in  treacherous  outrage 

shed. 
Has  hurled   the  last  of  Ahab's  race  to  rot  among  the  dead  : 
Blotted   from  earth,  with  Baal's  crew  !   as  chaff  in  whirlwinds 

driven. 
By  him  who  heard  the  Tishbite's  word,  and  wrought  the  doom 

of  heaven  ! 
A  doom   that   flames    God's   righteous   wrath   at   wrongs,    by 

small  or  great. 
And  thunders  forth  th'  oppressor's  curse,  th'  apostate's  crime 

and  fate  ! 

V. 

O  brave,  strong  souls,  who  toil  with  God   in  every  land  and 
age, 
And    keep  the    music    of  his   march,  'mid   earth's    discordant 
rage, 


50  ELIJAH    THE    REFORMER. 

Faint    not,    fail    not,   the    hour    shall   come,   when,    life's    last 

conflict  won, 
God's  hero-souls  shall  taste,  e'en  here,  th'  eternal  calm  begun. 
That  hour  drew  nigh.     God's  seer  approved,  time's  matchless 

son  of  faith, 
Must  win  one  deathless  victory  more,  the  victory  over  Death  ; 
Must  'scape  the  general  doom  of  man,  his  goblin  foe  despised, 
And  leap  triumphant  into  life,  by  faith  immortalized. 

Oh,   dread,  glad  whisper,  dim,   unknown,   that    taught  one 

soul  like  mine, 
In   deep,  clear,  cloudless   trust   to   hold   that   nameless  dream 

divine, 
That  voice  by  mortal  ear  unheafd,  nor  doubt,  nor  boast  the 

power, 
Calm,  silent,  still,  to  wait  God's  will,  content  till  that  grand 

hour  ! 

VI. 

It   dawns.     Instinct,  yet  speechless   still,    he  takes  his   last 

long  way  ; 
But    first    to    Shaphat's     son,   inspired  —  "At     Gilgal   halt,   I 

pray; 
God  calls  to  Bethel,  there  to  bless  the  college  of  his  seers." 
"  As  lives  Jehovah,  lives  thy  soul,  my  guide  these  wondrous 

years, 
I   will   not    leave    thee  !"     On  they    trod   to    Bethel's  turrets 

hoar, 
Where  Jacob  dreamed,   and    youths  like  him   still    pondered 

heaven's  high  lore. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  51 

Forth  came  the  prophets,  youth  and  sage,  to  greet  their  head 
renowned, 

With  reverent  looks  and  conscious  souls,  touched  deep  with 
woe  profound. 

That  form  revered  they  scan  once  more,  and  hail,  with  sacred 
awe, 

God's  mighty  champion,  he  whose  word  brought  back  Jeho- 
vah's law. 

His  charge  they  hear  that  law  to  guard,  to  heed  its  least 
command, 

And  brave  a  thousand  deaths  to  drive  dark  Baal  from  the  land. 

Then  brief  farewells,  earth's  last  for  them,  as  whispering  sad, 
they  say  : 

"  Know'st  thou  thy  guide,  e'en  from  thy  side,  God's  voice  shall 
call  this  day  ?" 

"  Yea,  yea,  too  well,  too  well  I  know  ;  forbear  !"  Elisha  cries  ; 

Yet  tears  will  start  when  true  souls  part,  as  life's  long  memo- 
ries rise. 

"  Heaven-sent  I  go  to  Jericho.     I  pray  thee  tarry  here." 

"As  lives  thy  God  I  leave  thee  not  !"  still  spake  Meholah's 
seer. 

Then  on  they  urge  their  mystic  march  down  Cherith's  lonely 
vale, 

While  he  who  erst  dwelt  there  with  God  recounts  that  won- 
drous tale. 

Those  towers,  of  old  by  God  o'erthrown,  rebuilt,  now  greet 
their  gaze. 

With  palmy  shade  and  grateful  rest  from  noontide's  fiery  rays. 


52  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

Again   the    schools  around   their    head    in  mournful   homage 

throng, 
And  on  the  stores  his  lips  distill  dwell  lovingly  and  long. 
Not  Greece's  bright   isles,   while   Homer's  song  its  deathless 

numbers  poured, 
Nor  Attic  groves  on  Plato's  tongue,   so  lingered  and  adored. 

VII. 

Earth's  last  grand  labor  now  is  wrought,  the  schools  are  all 

reviewed 
By  him  who  knows  the  worth  of  lore,  though  reared  in  soli- 
tude ; 
For  grace  and  knowledge,  hand   in  hand,  fulfil  Redemption's 

plan, 
And   he  who   rails   at   learning  owns  himself  blind  guide  for 

man. 
Fit  work  for  time's  sublimest  seer,  on  life's  sublimest  verge, 
To   hold  back  heaven  one  glorious  day,  on  mortal  youth  to 

urge 
The  toils   that   form   and  fire  the  soul,  'neath  Truth's  bright 

flag  unfurled  ; 
That   shape   the   coming   age,  and  light  the  minds  that  light 

the  world  ! 
Too  fast,  too  fast  the  sun  rides  on  ;   too  long  this  fond  delay 
That    chains    to    earth    a   soul   on   fire   for  heaven's  empyreal 

day  ! 
The   hour   has  struck  to  turn  from  man,   from  mortal   smile 

or  frown, 
And  meet  the  state  from  heaven's  own  gate  already  marching 

down  ; 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  53 

Yet   one  tried  friend  shall  view  that  end,  and  live  to  tell  the 

sight 
To  cheer  brave  souls  while  onward   rolls   earth's   endless  war 

for  Right. 
The  same  meek  quest,  the  same  reply  :   "I   speed  to  Jordan's 

ford, 
I   pray  thee    wait."     "I   leave  thee  not,   so    help    me  Israel's 

Lord  !" 
Elisha's  faith  thrice  tried,  thrice  proved,  no  more  God's  will 

demands  ; 
On  Jordan's  brink  the  hero  folds  his  mantle  in  his  hands  ; 
He  smites  the  waves  ;  th'  obedient  deeps  roll  back,  with  tune- 
ful roar, 
Where  Israel's  host  dry-shod  had  crossed,  six  centuries  before, 
And  left  the  cairn  beneath  the  waves,1  to  mark  the  path  they  trod, 
Beheld  to-day,  while  fared  that  way  the  wondrous  seer  of  God  ! 
Toward  Moab's  wilds,  where  Moses'  dust  was  laid  so  long  ago 
By  God's  own  hand,  of  men  ne'er  scanned,  they  walked,  serene 

and  slow. 
Toward   Xebo's  top,  whence   Moses   viewed    God's   land  with 

raptured  gaze, 
Moves  he  who  soon  shall  hail  the  noon  of  heaven's  unclouded 

blaze. 
They   talked  :    "  What  shall  I  ask  for  thee,  before   I  quit  thy 

sight  : 
The   moments    fly."     Elisha  then,  "  On  me,  in  twofold   might, 
Thy  spirit  rest."     "A  hard  request,  yet  if  thine  eyes  shall  see 
What  time  I  rise,  then  thine  the  prize.     If  not,  it  shall  not  be." 
1  See  poem  on  "  The  Passage  of  Jordan,"  p.  S9,  stanza  XIX. 


54  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

VIII. 

A  Light  that  burst  the  concave  sky  !  A  shock,  like  earth- 
quake's sound  ! 

A  whirlwind  tore  the  mountain  hoar,  and  shook  the  steadfast 
ground  ! 

And  wheels  of  fire  and  steeds  of  flame,  by  God's  strong  angels 
driven, 

Between  those  two  tempestuous  flew,  and  snatched  God's  seer 
to  heaven  ! 

Up  !  Up  !  Amid  the  thunder's  shout,  the  dreadless  mortal 
rode, 

And  flamed  afar  on  dazzling  car  along  his  path  to  God  ! 

His  beard's  white  streamer  floats  in  light,  his  mantle  drifts 
below, 

Beneath  his  team  the  sunset  clouds  like  smitten  forge-fires 
glow  ! 

On  jasper  tire,  by  hoofs  of  fire,  with  lightning  ardor  hurled, 

He  sweeps  on  high,  and  spurns  the  sky,  and  quits  th'  astonished 
world  ! 

On  wheels  that  blaze  with  bickering  rays  he  mounts  the  road 
sublime, 

Where  Enoch  erst  ascended  first,  amid  the  dawn  of  time  ! 

Around  his  chariot,  countless  poured,  heaven's  harnessed 
seraphim 

With  trump  and  lyre  swell  high  and  higher  heaven's  conquer- 
ing hero-hymn. 

O'er  gulfs  of  space,  ethereal  fields,  th'  ecstatic  anthems 
roll, 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  55 

While   life   transformed,   celestial,   thrills  his  raptured  frame 

and  soul  ! 
Immortal  life  through   mortal   mould   like  harmless  lightning 

ran, 
And  all  was  fire,  that  erst  was  flesh  ;  was  mind,  but  yet  was 

man  ! 
On,  on   o'er   plains   and   heights   untrod,    and   calm   cerulean 

deeps, 
Xear  and  more  near  heaven's  steadfast  sphere,  th'  harmonious 

convoy  sweeps  ; 
Till  domes  diaphanous,  divine,  white  piles  of  quarried  light, 
Swim  wide  before,  loom  vast,  and  soar,  a  city  infinite  ! 
A  city  built  of  crystal  gold,  with  jasper  walls  surrounded  ; 
On  jaspers,  sapphires,  emeralds,  and  sea-green  beryls  founded  ; 
Where  chalcedony,  sardonyx,  and  sardius  are  blending 
Their  cross-fires  with    the   topaz's   glow,  with   chrysolite   con- 
tending ; 
With  chrysoprase,  and  amethyst,  and  jacinth's  flash  amazing  ; 
And  gates  that  blush,  one  rosy  pearl,  with  diamond  frostwork 

blazing  ! 
A  city  never  needing  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  candle's  shining, 
Whose  light  is  God,  whose  golden   day  knows  never   night's 

declining  ! 
That  city  throbs  with  generous  joy  to  hail  the  seer  immortal. 
Who  drives,  as  never  mortal  drove,  on  to  its  radiant    portal  ! 
Its  airy  gates,  a  diamond  dream,  on   sapphire   wheels  unfold  ; 
The   convoy's    passed;    one    glimpse,    earth's    last — palms! 

crowns  !  and  harps  of  gold  ! 


5 6  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

Part  Fifth.     From  Nebo  to  Hermon. 

1. 

Earth's    last  ?    Ah   no  !      A  thousand  years   sweep  o'er    this 

whirling  ball  ; 
And   nations  grow,  and  empires  sink,  and  races   rise  and  fall. 
God's  Eden-promise,  fresh  through  time,  its  bound  ordained 

has  run, 
And  now  on  earth  Messiah  stands,  Incarnate  God  the  Son. 
Three  years  of   miracle   for  man,  of  toil  all  worlds  to  cheer, 
Are  all  fulfilled  ;  the  end  is  nigh  ;  time's  central  hour  draws  near. 
Then  He  by  whom,  in  pangs  unknown,  earth's  winepress  must 

be  trod, 
'Neath  soaring  Hermon's  '    snow-capped   dome,    for   strength 

cries  out  to  God. 
Lo,  while  he   prays,  what   beams  divine  through   all   his  vest- 
ments glow  ! 
They   gleam   more    bright    than    Hermon's    crown    of  dread, 

eternal  snow  ! 
The   sun-flash   lightens   from   his   face,  confest   as  God  !   and 

there 
Two  dazzling  shapes,  of  mortal  mould,  walk  with  him  on  the  air! 
'Tis  he  !    'Tis  he  !  the  hero-seer  !  and  he  the  law  who  gave  ! 
With  Him  who  sent  them  both,  and  now  himself  has  stooped 

to  save  ! 
'Tis  he  who  braved  for  God  and  right  a  realm's  apostate  ire, 

1  For  Hermon,  instead  of  Tabor,  see  Whedon,  and  other  modern  com- 
mentaries. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  57 

Wrought  deeds  sublime,  then  leapt  from  time  in  God's  own 

car  of  fire  ! 
Tis   he  !     He   lives  !     He   reigns   enthroned,  and   bears   from 

worlds  above 
God's  own  omnipotence  to  gird  Messiah's  grief  and  love  ! 
The  seal  of  God  for  all  his  toil,  his  high,  heroic  worth. 
He  stands  alone  of  all   God's   seers,  with   God   revealed   on 

earth. 
'Tis  he,  who,  born  a  mountaineer,  the  mountains  loved  for  aye. 
Whom  Gilead,  Carmel,  Horeb  knew,  and  Xebo,  in  life's  day  ; 
And  not  from   earth  his  feet   can    rest    till    there  on   Syria's 

height, 
He   stands,  where  Moses  prayed  to  stand,   in  Shenir's  :    daz- 
zling light  ! 
With  Moses  stands  ! — That  last  fond  prayer,2  delayed,  but  not 

denied, 
Remembered  fifteen  centuries,  no  longer  God  can  chide  ! 
And    now    on    Lebanon,    conjoined,    stand    these    two    souls 

sublime. 
Twin  heroes  of  the  elder  world,  grand  master-souls  of  time  ! 

II. 

With    him   who  gave   the  law    stands  he  who  wrought  its 
great  reform, 

1  Shenir,  a  breastplate,  in  allusion  to  its  glittering  ice-cap  and  glaciers,  the 
most  ancient  Amorite  name  of  the  mountain  which  the  Phoenicians  called  Si- 
rion,  and  the  Hebrews,  Hermon. 

-  Deut.  3  :  23-26. 


58  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

And  grandly  did  and  dared  for  God,  though  life  were  one  long 

storm. 
His  eagle  spirit  braved  the  blast,  o'er  grief  and  death  soared 

higher, 
Till  now,  amid  the  seraphim  he  stands,  a  soul  of  fire  ! 
God's  minister  plenipotent,  he  serves  the  great  I  AM 
Till  earth,  redeemed,  shall  hymn  the  song  of  Moses  and  the 

Lamb. 
And  now  with  Moses  and  the  Lamb  in  fellowship  divine, 
They  talk  how  death  shall  work  out  life,  in  God's  supreme 

design. 
Of  earth's  Redemption  all  their  talk,  the  glory  of  the  cross  ; 
The  Love  that   dies   to  save  a  world  from  endless  death  and 

loss  ; 
Dies    not    by  accidental  wrong,   mobbed,   martyred    without 

plan, 
But  dies  as  given  in  eldest  heaven,  before  all  worlds  began. 
And  he  who  led  one  Exodus,  the  night  of  History's  '  birth, 
Bowed  there  to  Him  who  leads  through  time  the  Exodus  of 

earth  ; 
And  he  who  brought  back  Israel's  tribes  to  own  Jehovah's 

sway 
Adored  God's   Son,  whose  sceptre  mild    all    earth   shall  yet 

obey. 
Then   time  shall  end,  and  suns  expire,  but  they  who've  kept 

God's  word, 

1  Bunsen  declares  that  "  History  was  born  on  that  night"  of  the  exodus 
from  Egypt. 


ELIJAH    THE  REFORMER.  59 

Through  heaven's  unending  age  shall  dwell  forever  with  the 

Lord. 
Blest  rest  !     Elysium  undefiled  !     So  ours  that  portion  be, 
How  sweet  to  toil  for  God  below,  then — Immortality  ! 


Part  Sixth.     Epilogue. 

I. 

O  seer-like   souls,  who've  gazed  inspired  on  Truth's  eternal 

forms, 
That  gleam  unchanging,  fair,  divine,  like  stars  above  earth's 

storms  ; 
Who  pant  to  lead  mankind  with  you,  Faith's  Pisgah-steeps  to 

climb, 
Where   man's    great   future  dawns,  unknown,  far   up   Earth's 

coming  time, 
Take  heart,  fear  not  ;  time's  toil  is  long  ;  man's  epochs,  like  the 

sphere's, 
Swing  slow  through   lab'ring  centuries,  or  span  a  thousand 

years. 
But  Earth's  old  stratum-building  powers  are  building  strata 

still  ; 
And  Truth,  unspent  in  cycles  past,  still  works  God's  mighty 

will. 
Creation's  archetypal  thoughts,  life,  righteousness,  and  love 
Work  on   through   all  the  worlds   below,  and  all  the  worlds 

above. 


60  ELIJAH   THE  REFORMER. 

God's  breath,  that  erst  o'er  chaos  moved,  when  Nature's  pulse 
grew  warm, 

Still  breathes  through  every  human  age  the  life-gale  of  reform. 

In  every  age  God's  spirit  stirs,  and  wakens  souls  sublime, 

Who  light  the  beacon  fires  along  the  mountain-tops  of  time  ! 

I  see  their  flash,  from  peak  to  peak,  along  the  ages  hoary, 

And  catch  the  gathering  thunder-swell  of  man's  redemption- 
story  ! 

From  every  opening  sky  of  earth  are  heavenly  voices  crying, 

And  seer-like    souls    from    clime    to    clime,  in    every    tongue 
replying. 

God's  Spirit,  breathed  through  all  the  world,  reproves,  awakes, 
enlightens, 

Till    Conscience    dawns    in    savage    breasts,    as    Revelation 
brightens  ; 

And  he  who  worships  God,  and  does  the  right,  in  every  nation, 

Accepted   stands  with  heaven,   and   shares  the  Spirit's  inspi- 
ration. 1 

From  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraham,  and  Amram's  mighty  son, 

The  Tishbite  grand,  and  he  who  stood  on  Mars'  proud  hill,  and 
won  ; 

To  him  who  smote  the  Scarlet  Whore,  and  two,  whose  tongue 
and  lyre, 

Inspired  by  God,  set  England  first,  and  then  the  world,  on  fire  ; 

Heroes  by  hosts,   unnamed,  unsung,   with  names  the  world 
shall  cherish 

When     Fame's    eternal    brass    is    dust,    and    pyramids    shall 
perish  ! 

1  Acts  10  :  35. 


ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER.  61 

Through  each,  through  all,  one  baptism  flames,  one  impetus 

divine  ; 
Xor  these  alone,  but  souls  who've  groped,  unlit  by  Salem's 

shrine  ; 
Cathay's  great  sage  ;  and    India  s  seers,  who  sang  in  Vedic 

dawn  ; 
And  Zendic  Zerdusht,  rapt  to  heaven  from  hoary,  dim  Iran  ; 
And   he    who    kindled  Asia's   Light,    renouncing    crown    and 

throne 
To  teach  the  world  that  he  who  serves  is  great,  and  he  alone  ; 
The  blind  old  bard  whose  matchless  song  from  Greece  o'er 

earth  has  rolled  ; 
The  Hemlock's  Martyr  ;  and  thy  name,  Academy,  untold  ! 

II. 

All  heaven-born  hero-souls  are  God's  torch-bearers  for 
mankind  ; 

But  brightest  they  who  most  have  caught  his  own  all-kindling 
mind. 

From  Calvary's  height  Redemption's  light  shall  shine  o'er 
earth  abroad, 

But  no  true  soul,  from  pole  to  pole,  e'er  cried  in  vain  to  God. 

Truth,  nature,  mind,  are  steps  to  God  ;  he  framed  their 
radiant  stair, 

And  he  who  climbs  where  God  hath  led  shall  find  him  every- 
where. 

His  wheels  flash  out  on  all  earth's  heights  where  souls  in 
anguish  call  ; 


62  ELIJAH    THE   REFORMER. 

Where'er  faith  dares  the  world  for  him,  his  fires  responsive 
fall  ; 

New  Baals  vex  each  land  and  age,  and  new  Asherahs  vile 

Hunt  Virtue's  life  with  shameless  strife,  and  many  a  secret 
wile  ; 

But  God  still  sends  his  hero-souls  to  smite  them  with  his  rod, 

For  God's  own  Son  man's  victory  won  ;  he  reigns,  the  Hero- 
God  ! 

He  reigns  !  And  earth  rolls  nearer  God,  through  long  up- 
struggling  ages, 

With  every  hero  sent  by  him,  whose  name  illumes  her  pages  ; 

For  God  in  man  brings  man  to  God,  through  faith,  and  love,  and 
sorrow, 

And  toil  and  strife,  that  lift  the  world  up  toward  a  brighter 
morrow. 

And  souls  that  fight  the  fight  for  man,  though  shamed, 
defeated,  broken, 

Like  weeping  clouds  are  crowned  at  last  with  victory's  rain- 
bow token. 

Their  names  are  set  like  steadfast  stars  in  heaven's  eternal 
arches, 

To  guide  the  pilgrimage  of  souls  through  all  time's  toiling 
marches. 

And  blest  are  they  to  whom  the  gift  ineffable  is  given, 

Through  tears,  through  toils,  through  martyr  fires,  to  light 
men  on  to  heaven  ! 

Brooklyn,  1S70 — 1SS5.     76S  iambic  septemetcrs. 


THE  CALLING  OF  MOSES. 

[Book  of  Exodus,  chapters  3,  4.] 

L 

Where  Midian's  hoary  mountains  in  rugged  grandeur  climb. 
And  rule  her  desert  solitudes  in  majesty  sublime, 
Through  lonely  wilds  and  gorges,  by  springs  among  the  rocks, 
The  exiled  seer,  a  shepherd,  led  his  roving,  browsing  flocks. 

II. 
At  last  on  giant  Horeb  amid  his  charge  he  trod, 
And   roamed    alone,  with  reverent  feet,   the  awful  Mount  of 

God  ; 
Below  lay  green  oases,  above  rose  granite  towers, 
And  all  the  soundless  silence  thrilled  instinct  with  heavenly 
powers. 

III. 

Here,  through    long    days   of    summer,  among    his   lambs   he 

strayed, 
And  pondered  God's  strange  mysteries,  wrestled  and  dreamed 

and  prayed  : 
"  Why  all  these  years  of  exile,  with  Israel  crushed  the  while  ? 
Why  sleeps  the  wrath  of  Abraham's  God  above  the  trembling 

Nile  ? 


64  THE   CALLING   OF  MOSES 

IV. 

"  If  once  God's  spirit  moved  me  in  years  so  long  ago 

To  save  my  downtrod    race  and    strike  the  swift,  delivering 

blow, 
Why  triumphs  still  the  oppressor?     Why  yet  doth  Israel's  cry 
Rise,  wild  with  anguish,  yet  bring  down  no  voice  from  all  the 

sky?" 

V. 

He  ceased.    A  sudden  wonder  before  his  vision  came  ! 

Along  the  mountain  thicket  rose  a  strange  and  scathless  flame  ! 

Above  the  tangled  hawthorn  it  leaped,  as  from  a  pyre, 

And  wrapped    the  unscorched  copse,  and  towered  a  tent  of 

lambent  fire  ! 

VI. 
Then  gazed  the  seer,  astonished,  to  view  the  wondrous  scene, 
When  lo  !  Jehovah's  solemn  voice,  from  out  the  blazing  screen 
Spake:   "  Moses  !   Moses!"     Trembling  he  answered:   "Here 

am  I." 
"  Put  off  thy  shoes,  on  holy  ground,  and  hither  draw  not  nigh  ! 

VII. 

u  I  am  El-Shaddai,1  mighty,  the  God  of  Abraham, 

Of  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  thy  sire,  Jehovah,  the  I  AM  ! 

The  cry  of  Israel's  children  has  reached  my  throne  on  high  ; 

I  know  their  heavy  sorrows,  all,  their  woe  and  agony. 

1  Hebrew  El,  the  Strong  one,  the  common  noun  for  God,  and  Shaddai, 
Irresistible,  translated  "  God  Almighty,"  by  Murphy,  Gen.  17  :  1,  the  great 
name  by  which  God  revealed  himself  to  Abraham. 


THE    CALLING   OF  MOSES.  65 

VIII. 

"  I  am  come  down  to  save  them  from   Egypt's  bloody  hand. 
To  smite  the  dire  oppressor's  power  and  scourge  his  guilty 

land  ; 
My    arm,  outstretched    in    wonders,  shall    make    his   realm    a 

grave, 
For  earth  and  sea  shall  fight  for  me  till  I  have  freed   the  slave.. 

IX. 
"  I  know  thy  own  brave  spirit,  I  love  the  heart  that  yearns 
To  rend  the  bondage  of  its  kind,  the  fiery  soul  that  burns 
At   others'    wrong    and    outrage  ;    and,    scorning    power    and 

pelf. 
Dare  rise  for  right  'gainst  all  earth's  might,  nor  plan  nor  care 
for  self. 

X. 

"  But  he  who  with  Jehovah  would  fight  the  fight  for  man 
Must  wait  till  God  reveal  his  rod  and  show  the  battle's  plan  ; 
And  forty  years  I've  taught  thee  to  meekly  bide  his  time 
Whose  footsteps  down  earth's  centuries  beat  one  eternal  rhyme. 

XI. 
"  Rise,  therefore,  now.  a  hero  in  meekness  as  in  might. 
And    I  will  send    thee,  thunder-clad,  to  shake  the  world    for 

right. 
But  see  thou  aye  remember  the  battle  is  not  thine  : 
Face  thou   the    blame,    the   jeers,    the  shame,   but  count  the 

victorv  mine. 


66  THE    CALLING   OF  MOSES. 

XII.  • 

"  Lean  on  my  arm,  almighty,  when  sorrows  bear  thee  down  ; 
Fall  back  on  me  when  flesh  is  weak  and  earth  and  demons 

frown. 
God   rules  to-day,  to-morrow  ;  God  rules  on  earth,  on  high; 
And  on  his  side  all  Heaven  shall  ride,  all  Hell  before  him  fly  ! 

XIII. 

"  Go  now,  meet  haughty  Egypt  ;  meet  Pharaoh  on  his  throne  ; 
Meet  Israel's  coward  doubts  and  fears  ;  meet  all,  and  shrink 

from  none. 
Take  thou  nor  sword  nor  sceptre,  thy  might  is  all  in  me  ; 
Take  only  this,  thy  shepherd's  staff,  power  in  humility." 

XIV. 

Then  rose  the  seer  and  hero,  no  more  to  fear  or  flee, 
Instinct  and  conscious  of  his  God,  himself  half  deity  ! 
Nations  and  Nature  owned  him  and  earth  and  time  obey, 
For  he  who  does  and  dares  in  God,  with  God  shall  reign  for  aye. 

XV. 

For  Right  shall   reign  while   kingdoms  and   empires  are   no 

more, 
And  civilizations  ebb  and  flow  like  tides  on  ocean's  shore  ; 
And  lie  who'll  lose  the  world  for  Right,  with  Right  the  world 

shall  gain, 
And   linked  with  Truth  and   Right,  in  God,  forever  shine  and 

reign. 


THE  DESTRUCTION    OF  EGYPT'S  FIRST-BORX. 

[Book  of  Exodus,  chapter  12  :  29,  30.] 
I. 

What  wail  was  that  which  rose  from  Egypt's  land, 

A  wild  and  long  and  heart-appalling  cry 

That  smote  the  brazen  arches  of  the  sky 
Upon  that  awful  morning,  when  God's  hand, 
In  vengeance  terrible,  had  waved  the  brand. 

The  viewless,  soul-dissevering  sword  of  wrath. 

O'er  all  her  homes,  and  with  its  noiseless  scath 
Had  touched  and  sundered  every  vital  band 
That  bound  her  first-born  life,  unbound  at  his  command  ! 

II. 
Egypt  stood  staggering  in  that  shock  of  woe, 

Amazed,  o'erwhelmed,  till  that  wild  wail  went  up, 
As  to  her  quivering  lips  was  pressed  a  cup 
Whose  withering  agony  can  no  man  know 
Who  has  not  reeled  in  darkness  while  the  throe 
Of  that  same  great  bereavement  stabbed  his  soul 
With  mortal  anguish,  which,  o'er  all  control, 
Burst  in  one  black,  bewildering,  whelming  flow. 
That  drove  him  drunk  with  grief,  stunned,  stifled  by  the  blow 


68  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  EGYPT'S  FIRST-BORN. 

III. 

()  Egypt  !   Egypt  !  such  a  woe  was  thine  ! 
And  down  the  dim,  long  ages  that  have  sped, 
I  see  thee  stooping  o'er  thy  prostrate  dead, 
In  that  dumb  agony,  while  ominous  shine 
The  clouds  of  morn,  all  blotched  with  bloody  wine, 
As  though  the  Hebrew  rite  were  sprinkled  there, 
As  though  o'er  all  the  sky,  and  earth,  and  air, 
In  blood  were  written  bold  that  awful  sign 
Of  retribution  dread,  and  mercy  all  divine  ! 

IV. 

In  slavery's  hut  and  haughty  grandeur's  hall. 
In  regal  dome,  in  stall,  and  open  field, 
Alike  did  Death  his  iron  sceptre  wield, 
And  over  all  the  land  a  fearful  pall 
Was  spread,  and  spectral  shadows,  dark  and  tall, 
Moved  up  and  down  her  palaces  and  streets, 
And  goblin  forms,  in  mouldy  winding-sheets, 
Unsummoned  by  the  Magian's  powerless  call, 
Sighed  as  they  glided  dim,  by  column,  court,  and  wall. 


Manhood  stood  mute,  in  awe  and  terror  dumb  ; 
But  woman's  heart  broke  down  beneath  her  love, 
In  wild  and  passionate  wailings,  that  might  move 

The  hearts  of  marble  sphinxes,  cold  and  numb  ; 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  EGYPT'S  IIKST-BORN.        69 

And  glorious,  dark-eyed  creatures,  in  the  gloom 
Of  Pharaoh's  palace,  on  its  floor  of  stone, 
Lay  frantic  flung,  clasping  with  plaintive  moan, 
Their  stiffening  offspring,  smitten  by  the  doom 
That  made  that  gorgeous  pile  one  vast  and  mournful  tomb. 

VI. 

Thus  Mizraim  mourned  :  but  all  through  Goshen's  land, 
Where  Israel's  tribes  beneath  the  blood-sign  dwelt, 
No  wailing  rose.     Awake  and  clad,  they  knelt, 

Girded  and  shod,  and  ready,  staff  in  hand, 

For  instant  march,  when  came  God's  swift  command. 
Their  first-born,  safe,  with  all  their  households  spared, 
The  paschal  lamb  with  awe  and  wonder  shared  ; 

While  each  glad  father  numbered  all  his  band  ; 

And  not  a  watch-dog  howled,  as  though  a  ghost  he  scanned. 

VII. 

O  Egypt  !  Egypt  !  say  what  was  thy  crime, 

That  God  should  bruise  thee  in  his  anger  so, 

And  pour  the  baptism  of  such  fearful  woe 
On  thy  proud  head,  and  make  thee,  through  all  time, 
A  sad  and  awful  monument  sublime 

Of  wrath  and  shame,  of  judgment  and  of  fear, 

To  all  the  ages,  ever  known  and  near, 
Teaching  a  startling  lore  to  every  clime, 
That  thrills  us  like  a  knell  with  ever-echoing  chime  ? 


70  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  EGYPT'S  FIRST-BORX. 

VIII. 

O  Egypt  !  Egypt  !  let  thy  grandeur  tell, 
Thy  pyramids  and  sphinxes,  for  they  can, 
How,  age  by  age,  they  rose  on  bones  of  man  ! 

And  let  the  deep,  dread  echoes  rise  and  swell 

From  labyrinth,  and  catacombs,  where  dwell 
Dead  generations  !     One  eternal  groan 
Comes  up  from  every  hewn  and  sculptured  stone, 

That  answers  too  significantly  well, 

How  Slavery's  curse,   through  time,  has  made   Nile's  vale 
a  hell  ! 

IX. 

O  ye  who  rear  on  unrewarded  toil 

The  glory  of  a  nation  or  an  age, 

Know  well  a  curse  is  writ  on  every  page 
Of  every  history  of  wrong  and  spoil  ! 
It  brands  the  brow,  the  soul,  the  very  soil 

Of  the  oppressor  with  Jehovah's  ban  ; 

And  all  the  luxury  wrung  from  wrong  to  man, 
And  all  the  greatness  reared  on  Freedom's  foil, 
Shall  sink  by  slow  decay,  or  sudden  swift  recoil  ! 


THE  PASSAGE  OF  THE  RED  SEA. 

[Book  of  Exodus,  chapters  14  and  15  ;  P^alm  18  :  7-17.] 

Ox  land's  remotest  verge  the  bondmen  stood, 
And  gazed,  dismayed,  upon  the  boundless  flood. 
Black,  threatening  mountains  walled  the  arid  shore. 
The  sea  swept  on,  unbridged  and  waste  before  ; 
And  far  and  hoarse  along  the  desert  strand. 
The  long,  loud  billows  beat  the  bending  sand. 

Now,  mingling  deep  with  ocean's  ceaseless  sound, 
A  muffled  murmur  steals  along  the  ground, 
Swelling  like  smothered  thunder  far  behind, 
Waxing  and  sinking  with  the  western  wind. 
But  anxious  ears  have  caught  the  creeping  jar 
That  loads  the  land-breeze  with  the  tread  of  war, 
And  million  hearts  beat  quick  in  deadly  fear 
As  rolls  the  laboring  discord  yet  more  near. 

In  that  dread  hour  a  thousand  memories  roam 
Back  o'er  the  way  that  led  them  from  their  home — 
That  home  of  bondage,  shame,  oppression,  pain, 
Sorrow  and  sin — and  quailing  ones  would  fain 
Fly  from  the  present  to  the  past  again. 

Was  it  that  where  we  sorrow  most,  the  heart 


THE   PASSAGE    OF    THE   RED    SEA. 

Makes  e'en  its  tortures  of  its  life  a  part  ?. 

Was  it  that  age,  and  infancy,  and  love 

Bring  e'en  to  slavehood  radiance  from  above  ? 

Oh  !  ring  not  shrill  along  their  ears  the  while, 

The  shrieks  of  infants  from  the  waves  of  Nile  ? 

Yet,  O  Death  !  Death  !  from  thee,  from  thee  we  fly, 

And  oft  we  loathe  to  live,  but  dare  not  die  ! 

But  while  such  thoughts  and  darker  throng  their  souls, 
The  far-off  rumble  near  and  nearer  rolls, 
Till,  through  the  eddying  dust-clouds,  on  their  sight 
Bursts  a  long  line  of  plumes  and  helmets  bright, 
And  sunset  flames  on  banner,  lance  and  spear, 
Where  Egypt's  chariots  flash  in  full  career  ! 

One  wild,  amazed  and  agonizing  cry 
Instant  from  Israel's  armies  smites  the  sky  ! 
On  God  in  terror  million  voices  call. 
On  Moses  million  imprecations  fall  ! 
"  Were  there  no  graves  in  Egypt,  that  we  flee 
To  perish  in  the  wilderness  with  thee  ? 
Did  we  not  bid  thee  leave  us  there  alone, 
To  serve  th'  Egyptians  till  our  days  were  done  ? 
Why  hast  thou  thus  our  hearts  and  hopes  beguiled, 
And  led  us  forth  to  slaughter  in  the  wild  !" 
"  Fear  not,"  cried  he,  whose  heaven-assisted  hand 
Had  filled  with  woe  and  wonder  Pharaoh's  land  ; 
"  Stand  still  and  see  salvation  from  the  Lord, 
Revealed  from  heaven  to  prove  his  changeless  word  ; 


THE   PASSAGE    OF    THE   RED    SEA.  73 

For  these  your  foes,  whom  now  your  eyes  deplore. 
Henceforth  shall  vex  your  vision  nevermore  !" 

Still  as  they  trembling  gazed  on  foe  and  flood, 
Fell  from  the  skies  the  awful  voice  of  God  : 
u  Wherefore  this  cry  of  faithless  fear  to  me  ! 
Bid  Israel  forward  !     Stretch  above  the  sea 
Thy  hand,  and  lift  thy  rod  to  cleave  its  flow. 
And  lead  my  chosen  through  its  depths  below  : 
And  Egypt's  king  shall  know  that  I  am  God, 
What  time  I  whelm  him  with  the  gulfing  flood  !" 

So  spake  Jehovah.     Swift  his  Angel  turns, 
And  o'er  their  rear  the  fiery  pillar  burns  : 
On  Egypt  frowning  black  with  gloomiest  night, 
On  Israel  scattering  soft  serenest  light. 
Lo  !  by  its  ray,  at  beck  of  Moses'  rod, 
The  sea  sinks  down,  as  at  the  feet  of  God  ! 
The  east  wind  ploughs  its  billows  like  a  share, 
Furrowing  the  brine  till  ocean's  bed  is  bare. 
Flinging  the  foamy  ridges  long  and  high 
On  right  and  left,  until  they  wash  the  sky  ; 
And  emerald  ranges,  wreathed  with  rainbows,  stand 
Guarding  a  valley  scooped  by  God's  right  hand  ! 

Down,  down  the  gorge,  far  sloping  from  the  shore. 
The  trembling  millions  now  obedient  pour. 
Dry  shod  and  safe  along  the  yawning  caves, 
'Twixt  mountain  walls  of  piled  and  solid  waves  ! 
'Round  the  bared  sand-spit  stretched  beyond  their  sight. 


74  THE   PASSAGE    OF    THE   RED    SEA. 

The  chained  abysses  roar  on  left  and  right  ; 

And  wave-worn  rocks  and  coral  groves  they  pass, 

And  strange  sea-monsters  glare  through  walls  like  glass. 

The  dreaded  octopus  waves  all  his  arms, 

And  the  coy  mermaid  shows  her  mingled  charms  ; 

The  great  dugong  goes  plunging  through  the  brine, 

The  dolphins  gambol,  and  the  sea-stars  shine  ; 

And  worm-gnawed  ribs  of  foundered  navies  stand 

Like  giant  bones  half  hid  in  ooze  and  sand  ! 

Awed  by  such  wonders  Israel's  myriads  move 

'Neath  watery  bastions  looming  dim  above  ; 

While  bright  behind  them — blackness  to  their  foes — 

The  dread  Shekinah  like  a  meteor  glows, 

Cheers  all  the  wasteful  deep  with  dusky  rays, 

But  lights  their  path  with  bright,  benignant  blaze. 

But  as  they  march  adown  the  dread  profound, 
Their  foiled  pursuers  catch  the  lessening  sound, 
And  instant  arm,  with  Heaven-sent  fury  blind, 
And  rush  impetuous  down  the  deep  behind. 

There  is  a  point,  a  limit  in  all  sins, 
Where  reason  ends,  and  madness,  stark,  begins — 
Where  Heaven  withdraws  all  judgment,  shame  or  fear, 
And  retribution  then  is  swift  and  near. 
The  impious  wretch,  to  whom  in  vain  are  lent 
All  days  of  mercy,  and  all  warnings  sent 
Whose  soul,  insensate,  mocks  where  demons  quail, 
And  scorns  repentance  till  forbearance  fail, 
Sees,  when  too  late,  the  bolt  of  vengeance  gleam, 
And  drops,  a  blackened  ruin,  from  his  dream. 


THE   PASSAGE    OF    THE   RED    SEA.  75 

The  nation  that  can  crush  a  weaker  race. 
Or  hunt  the  human  kind  like  beasts  of  chase. 
Be  it  by  armies,  hounds,  or  laws  more  fell. 
Hangs  toppling  on  the  crumbling  verge  of  hell  ! 
And  though  she  lift  her  haughty  head  alone, 
Confronting  Heaven  with  brow  of  slave-hewn  stone. 
Impatient  thunders,  big  with  fearful  trust. 
Tremble  to  leap  and  dash  her  into  dust  : 
And  though  Heaven's  judgments  linger  and  seem  slow. 
Not  lighter  falls  the  long-suspended  blow 
That  hurls  at  last  the  blasted  tyrant  low  ! 

O  Egypt  !  art  thou  not  enough  chastised  ? 
Is  not  thy  pride  by  ten  dire  plagues  advised  ? 
Rush  not  vague  terrors  on  thy  shrinking  sight 
From  out  the  pall  that  doubles  nature's  night  ? 
Runs  not  along  thy  soul  that  wail  untold 
That  rose,  when  morning  found  thy  first-born  cold  ? 
Seems  not  the  burdened  pressure  of  the  air 
To  stir  with  whisperings  bidding  thee  forbear f 

On,  on  they  pour,  by  fiends  exulting  driven, 
Smit  with  portentous  hardihood  from  Heaven. 
Throned  in  his  burnished  car  the  monarch  rides. 
Defiant  gazing  on  the  quivering  tides. 
That,  with  restraint  impatient,  creep,  and  move, 
And  curl,  and  hiss,  and  murmur  far  above. 
On,  on  they  pour,  till  now,  in  middle  sea 
The  long  black  valley,  open  far  and  free, 


7  6  THE  PASSAGE   OF    THE   RED   SEA. 

Stretches  before,  behind,  beyond  their  sight, 
Where  sky  and  ocean  blend  in  circling  night. 

But  as  they  rave  along  the  hideous  gloom, 
Lo  !  light  appalling  flashes  on  their  doom  ! 
Forth  from  the  cloud  in  blinding  blaze  it  streams, 
Malignant  influence  rides  on  all  its  beams. 
Perplexed,  dismayed,  all  hearts  with  bodings  quake  : 
All  arms  relaxed  in  nerveless  terror  shake  ! 
The  steed,  grown  restive  with  brute  instinct  s  dread, 
Startles,  and  snorts,  and  flings  his  lofty  head  ! 
The  trembling  driver  scarce  his  stand  maintains, 
Plies  the  vain  thong,  and  grasps  the  useless  reins  ! 
While  through  the  awestruck  ranks  that  baleful  glare 
Shoots  nameless  horror,  trembling,  and  despair  ! 
But  still  the  maniac  king  pursues  his  prey, 
Scorns  every  token,  mocks  at  all  dismay, 
Till  hands  unseen,  innumerous,  deftly  steal 
The  pins  that  fasten  many  a  rapid  wheel  ; 
Erring,  they  roll,  confused,  at  Heaven's  command, 
And  many  a  laboring  axle  ploughs  the  sand  ; 
While  swift  avenging  angels  o'er  them  crowd, 
And  Israel's  God  looks  lightnings  from  the  cloud  ! 
That  look  untold,  that  mortal  never  saw 
And  lived,  whose  glance  fills  holiest  heav'n  with  awe, 
There  through  that  dread  Shekinah's  dazzling  rays, 
In  form  and  face  which  lightning's  self  outblaze — 
To  which  white  noontide's  beams  are  blackest  night— 


THE  PASSAGE   OF   THE  RED   .  77 

One  instant  burst  o'erwhelming  on  their  sight  ! 

With  pale  recoil,  amazed,  appalled,  they  cry 
u  From  dreadful  Israel  let  us  turn  and 
Jehovah  fights  for  them  'gainst  Mizraim's  hc^ 
Turn  we,  and  fly  !     Fly  !     Fly  !  or  all  is  lc 
They  wheel  !     They  fly  !     Then  from  the  cloudy  gloom 
Breaks  instant  forth  the  fiery  storm  of  doom  ! 
The  sultry  air  explodes  with  lurid  flash  ! 
The  stifling  murk  is  cleft  with  gleam  and  crash  ! 
Dread  thunders  boom  !     The  bellowing  heavens  descend  ! 
Lightning  and  rain  in  blinding  wrath  contend  ! 
Blackness  and  whirlwind,  sky  and  ocean  blend  ! 
And  ebbing  tides  returning  rise  and  sweep 
And  whirl  and  foam  along  the  roaring  deep  ! 

Ah  !  vain  repentance,  or  of  man  or  state. 
That  never  comes,  until  it  comes  too  late  ! 
E'en  as  they  wheel,  lo  !  Israel's  ransomed  host, 
With  dawn  safe  climbing  free  Arabia's  coast  ! 
Too  late,  too  late,  through  middle  seas  they  fly, 
The  hour  of  vengeance  flushes  all  the  sk 

O  Maid  of  Egypt  !  vainly  dost  thou  wait 
Thy  hero-lover  at  thy  palace  ga: 
Vainly,  with  love's  fond  studiousness  prepare 
To  crown  him  victor,  and  to  deck  his  car  ! 
Vainly  do  waiting  hearts  of  pride  and  love. 
Through  all  the  land  at  ever}-  footfall  move  ! 
Their  last,  their  utterest  desolation  flies 


7S  THE   PASSAGE    OF   THE   RED   SEA. 

Shadowy  and  swift,  along  the  ominous  skies  ; 

Omens  in  art,  in  man,  and  nature  blend, 

And  Egypt,  dead,  shows  living  Egypt's  end  ! 

The  voiceless  catacombs  hear  rumblings  dread, 

Where  mummied  kings  and  gods  forsake  their  bed  ! 

Colossal  Memnon's  tuneful  statues  groan, 

And  dateless  sphinxes  sweat  through  veins  of  stone  ! 

The  glyptic  obelisks  with  terror  nod, 

And  shuddering  pyramids  own  Israel's  God  ! 

Ten  direful  plagues  throughout  the  world  proclaim 

Jehovah's  wrath  at  Slavery's  wrong  and  shame  : 

One  final  stroke,  stupendous  and  sublime, 

Shall  peal  the  Re-enslaver's  doom  through  time  ! 

For  when  God's  right  hand  rends  the  bondman's  chain, 

Woe  !  woe  to  him  who'd  weld  the  links  again — 

Who'd  rashly  brave  th'  Omnipotent's  decree  ! 

He  wars  with  God,  who  wars  with  Liberty  ! 

Once  more  wide  sounds  the  awful  voice  of  God  ; 
Once  more  wide  waves  the  sea-compelling  rod, 
And,  at  its  beck,  the  pent,  impatient  tide 
In  deluge-mountains  bursts  on  either  side  ! 
Vainly  in  frantic  terror  from  its  flow, 
Shoreward  they  rage,  tumultuous,  far  below  ! 
Before,  behind,  with  instantaneous  pour, 
The  ocean  plunges  and  the  surges  roar  ! 
Vainly  at  once  to  thousand  gods  they  cry, 
To  prop  the  seas,  that  stooping,  hide  the  sky  ! 


THE  PASSAGE    OF    THE  RED   SEA.  jg 

Osiris,  Isis,  Apis,  Mnevis,  Rha, 

Anubis,  Ammon,  Horus,  Thoth,  and  Phtha, 

The  gods  of  Heaven  and  earth,  of  sea  and  sky. 

Sun,  moon,  bull,  ram,  dog,  crocodile,  and  fly. 

Mind's  loftiest  visions,  base  and  bestial  forms, 

Dreams  of  Eternity,  cats,  frogs,  and  worms — 

What  are  they  all,  when  dread  Jehovah  rolls 

A  wrathful  ocean  on  their  shuddering  souls, 

And  Memphian  chivalry,  and  Theban  pride, 

Kings,  priests,  and  gods  are  whelmed  beneath  the  tide  ! 

With  shock  tremendous  yields  each  quivering  wall. 
Immense  and  swift  the  sea-green  arches  fall. 
And  ruin  runs  with  level  lapse  o'er  all  ! 
One  moment,  struggling  in  the  surge  for  life. 
See  some  strong  swimmer  stem  the  seething  strife  ! 
One  moment  Pharaoh's  golden  armor  shines 
'Mid  cataracts  booming  like  exploding  mines  ! 
One  moment  madly  plunging  in  their  toils, 
His  war-steeds  flounder  where  the  tumult  boils  ; 
And  one  long,  mingled,  stifled,  strangled  scream 
Comes  like  the  gasp-shriek  of  a  nightmare  dream  ; 
And  Pharaoh,  deified,  and  prince,  and  slave. 
Together  sink  beneath  th'  all-whelming  wave  : 
And  meeting  billows  skip  and  clap  their  hands, 
And  laugh  wild  requiem  o'er  proud  Egypt's  bands. 
That  slumber  low  along  the  weltering  sands  ; 
Egypt  with  all  her  power  to  ruin  hurled  ! 


8o      THE    SMITING   OF    THE   ROCK  IN  KADESH. 

A  doom  whose  dread,  whose  fame,  shall  fill  the  world  ! 
Far  as  Earth's  shores  extend,  her  oceans  roll, 
Through  tropic  climes  or  'round  each  icy  pole, 
All  tribes  shall  learn  Jehovah's  name  t'  adore, 
The  God  whose  love  uplifts  the  humblest  poor, 
The  awful  God  of  Right  forevermore  ! 


THE    SMITING   OF  THE    ROCK   IN    KADESH 

[Book  of  Numbers,  chapter  20  :  1-13.] 
I. 

Water  !  no  water  !  rock  and  sand — 
A  weary,  parched,  and  burning  land  ; 
The  springs  all  sunk — the  torrents  dry — 
The  clouds  all  perished  from  the  sky  ! 

II. 

Zin  seemed  on  fire,    and  Kadesh  lay 
Blasted  beneath  the  torrid  ray  ; 
No  shadowy  palms,  nor  herb,  nor  grass — 
Earth,  glowing  iron — sky,  blazing  brass  ! 

III. 
The  goat-skins,  all  their  moisture  spent, 
Hung  shrunk  and  crackling  in  each  tent  ; 


THE   SMITING   OF    THE   ROCK  IX  KADESH. 

And  ghastly  bands  of  frantic  men 
Searched  vainly  ever}*  grot  and  glen. 

IV. 

Then  hoarse  and  deep  along  the  plain 
Gathered  a  sound  of  wrath  and  pain, 
And  loud  the  angry  murmur  burst 
From  millions  mad  with  torturing  thirst. 

V. 

"  Is  this  the  land  our  seers  foretold, 
Whose  streams  in  milk  and  honey  rolled  ? 
Whose  woods  and  groves  drip  balm  and  oil  ? 
Whose  harvests  load  the  heaven-drenched  soil  ? 

VI. 

"  Why  have  ye  here  God's  people  brought, 
Us  and  our  herds  to  slay  for  naught  ; 
Where  never  fruits  nor  vines  were  found, 
And  fountless  deserts  blaze  around  ! 

VII. 
"Would  God  that  when  his  instant  ire 
Wrapped  Korah's  host  in  sheeted  fire, 
We,  too,  had  shared  that  pangless  doom, 
Or  filled  with  them  the  earthquake  tomb  !" 

VIII. 
So  raved  the  ingrates  God  had  fed 
With  one  long  miracle  of  bread  ! 


82      THE    SMITING   OF    THE   ROCK  IN  KADESH 

In  prostrate  agony  of  woe 

God's  seer  held  back  Heaven's  righteous  blow. 

IX. 

Then  flashed  God's  glory,  pealed  his  word, 
While  awestruck  thousands  trembling  heard 
Jehovah's  mandate,  echoing  wide, 
Till  listening  caves  and  crags  replied  : 

X. 

"  Take  thou  the  rod  !  the  nation  call  ! 
Command  yon  cliff  before  them  all  ! 
And  springs  shall  rise  and  streams  shall  burst, 
Till  man  and  nature  slake  their  thirst." 

XI. 

Now,  forth  before  th'  expectant  throng, 
Erring,  yet  in  God's  mercy  strong, 
Lifting  toward  heaven  the  mystic  rod, 
Stands  he  who  erst  dread  Sinai  trod. 

XII. 

He  smites.     The  stern  dark  rock  rebounds 
The  blow,  and  all  the  vale  resounds  ; 
But  all  its  secret  springs  unknown 
Leap,  startled,  in  their  veins  of  stone  ! 

XIII. 

Again  the  prophet's  arm  descends  ; 
The  conscious  granite  groans  and  rends, 


THE   SMITING   OF    THE   ROCK  IN  KADESH  83 

And  lo  !  a  fountain,  silver  fair, 

Mounts  flashing  through  the  burning  air  ! 

XIV. 

Wide  through  the  camp  glad  voices  cry, 
And  -Water  !"  ''Water  !"  fills  the  sky  ; 
While  rapturous  thousands  mingling  rush 
Where  glittering  rivulets  foam  and  gush. 

XV. 

With  brazen  helm  the  warrior  dips 

The  spouting  nectar  to  his  lips  ; 

The  old  man,  trembling,  bowed  with  years, 

Thanks  God,  and  drinks  with  reverent  tears= 

XVI. 
The  youth,  half  eager,  half  afraid, 
Hands  his  full  pitcher  to  the  maid  ; 
The  mother,  in  her  thirst  half  wild, 
First  satisfies  her  youngest  child. 

XVII. 
The  bullock  snuffs  the  freshening  gale, 
Bellows,  and  bounds  along  the  vale  ; 
And  cow  and  goat,  and  lamb  and  hound, 
Quaff  the  cool  rills  that  gurgle  'round. 

XVIII. 
The  war-steed  neighs,  and  champs  his  chain, 
Then  charges  thundering  down  the  plain  ; 


CS4  THE    SMITING   OF    THE   ROCK  IN  KADESH. 

The  patient  camel  breaks  his  fast, 
And  drinks,  the  longest,  and  the  last. 

XIX. 

O  Thou,  the  Rock  of  truth  and  Grace, 
Once  cleft  to  save  a  dying  race, 
Thy  streams  of  mercy,  full  and  free, 
Still  flow  for  all  mankind  and  me. 

XX. 

O  may  we,  like  thy  flock  of  old, 
Drink  deep  from  all  thy  springs  untold  ; 
Nor  e'er,  like  Israel,  doubt  the  plan 
Of  God's  unfailing  love  for  man. 

XXI. 

Nor  e'er,  like  him,  God  honored  most, 
Forget  in  whom  is  all  our  boast  ; 
And,  once  impatient,  rash,  and  vain, 
Lose  Canaan  here — and  heaven  scarce  gain. 


THE  PASSAGE  OF  JORDAN*. 

[Book  of  Joshua,  chapters  3,  4.] 
I. 

From  Egypt's  bloody  bondage  the  ransomed  seed  had  passed. 
By  flaming  mounts  and  sundered  seas,  to  Canaan's  bounds,  at 

last. 
The   land,   from   snow-crowned   Hermon    to  Arnon's    rushing 

wave. 

Was  won  by  him  whom  God's  own  hand   had   laid    in  glory's 

grave. 

II. 

And  now  Jehovah  summoned  to  cross  old  Jordan's  flood, 
To  Canaan,  claimed  four  hundred  years  by  deed  from  Abra- 
ham's God  ; 
A  deed  renewed  to  Isaac,  to  Jacob,  Joseph  too, 
The  land  sun-eyed  from  Pisgah's  top  in  Moses'  glorious  view. 

III. 

Ho  !  God's  great  day  is  dawning  !     Hark  how  the  trumpets 

sound  ! 
Till  Moab's  hills  and  echoing  crags  the  stirring  peals  rebound  ! 
The  ordered  tribes  in  beauty  around  their  banners  form. 
And  o'er  God's  tent  the  fiery  cloud  glows  like  a  rainbowed 

storm  ! 


86  THE   PASSAGE   OF  JORDAN. 

IV. 

Then   first    came    princely    Judah,1  whose  towering  standard 
burned  ; 

And  with  him  patient  Issachar,  and  Zebulun  the  learned  ; 

And  next  marched  first-born  Reuben,  with  Simeon's  fiery  band, 

And  Gad's  strong  troop  of  mountaineers    from   Gilead's  fra- 
grant land. 

V. 

And  then  came  mighty  Ephraim,  Manasseh's  double  host, 
And  fierce  left-handed  Benjamin,  who  made  the  sling  his  boast  ; 
And  last  moved  lion-hearted  Dan,  with  Asher's  wealthy  horde, 
And   Naphtali,  the  fleet  of  foot  and  eloquent  in  word. 

VI. 

Before  the  host  went  Levi,  to  bear  his  sacred  charge, 
Jehovah's  tabernacle  dread,  and  stood  by  Jordan's  marge  ; 
Before  them  rolled  a  raging  tide  from  far-off  Hermon's  snows  ; 
For  Jordan's  flood,  at  harvest  heat,  his  triple  banks  o'erfiows. 

VII. 

On  swept  the  swelling  frechet,  and  high  and    higher  clomb 
The  whirling,  maddening  chaos  of  fury  and  of  foam  ; 
The  majesty  of  Nature  in  her  unbridled  hour, 
That  mocks  the  insect  might  of  man,  and  scorns  his  pigmy 
power. 

1  For  the  order  of  encampment  and  marching,  in  four  grand  divisions  of 
three  tribes  each,  see  Num.  2  ;  and  for  the  characteristics  of  the  tribes,  see 
Jacob's  blessing,  Gen.  49  :  1-27,  and  Moses'  blessing,  Deut.  33  :  C-25  ;  with 
other  passages. 


THE   PASSAGE   OF  JORDAX.  87 

VIII. 

What  !     Tempt  that  sea  of  surges  ? — that  turbid, wild  abyss  ? — 
Dost  hear  the  roar  like    thunder  ? — the  dash,  and    boil,    and 

hiss  ? 
Go  face  the  Red  Sea's  rolling  !     Go  brave  the  dread  simoom  ! 
But  dare  not  swelling  Jordan  when  all  his    torrents  boom  ! 

IX. 

Then  came  Jehovah's  answer  :   "  This  day  will  I  begin 

To  magnify  my  captain,  and  bring  my  people  in. 

This  day  will  I  do  wonders.     This  day  your  fear  and  dread, 

Through    Canaan's    trembling    nations,    in    terror    shall    be 

spread." 

X. 

Then    Joshua's    trumpet    sounded    :     "  Take     up    Jehovah's 

shrine  ! 
The  Lord  of  all  the  earth  goes  forth  to  lead   His  covenant 

line  ! 
March  onward  into  Jordan  !     Obey  the  living  God  ! 
Ye  pass  to-day  an  unknown  way,  by  mortals  never  trod  !" 

XL 
The  mighty  column  marches,   the  ark  of  God  before  ; 
They  wind  down  Moab's  headlands,    and   stand   by  Jordan's 

roar  ; 
Jehovah's  cloudy  curtains  float  above  the  deluge,  dim, 
The  sacred  feet  of  white-haired  priests  are  dipped  in  Jordan's 

brim. 


88  THE   PASSAGE    OF  JORDAN. 

XII. 

Lo  !   at  that  touch  divided,  as  by  an  unseen  sword, 

From  shore  to  shore  the  surges  cleave  a  path    for  Nature's 

Lord  ! 
Above,  the  headlong  waters  in  heaps  and  mountains  pile  ! 
Below,  the  ebbing  channel  runs  dry  for  many  a  mile  !  ' 

XIII. 

Far  up  the  rock-walled  valley  a  refluent  lake  expands 
Ten  leagues,  to  Adam's  city,  that  hard  by  Zarthan  stands  ; 
While  cliffs  of  quivering  crystal,  and  foam  like  Alpine  snow, 
O'erhang,  in  awful  cataracts,  the  yawning  gulf  below. 

XIV. 

But  there  Jehovah's  altar  and  ark  of  mystic  power, 
Upborne  on  mortal  shoulders,  stand  firm  for  many  an  hour  ; 
While  swiftly  marching  myriads,  a  mighty  bannered  host, 
Sweep  on  from  Moab's  border,  and  cross  to  Canaan's  coast. 

XV. 

0  thrilling  scene,  stupendous  !     Far  as  the  eye  can  gaze, 

1  hear  the  tramp  of  millions,  and  see  their  standards'  blaze  ! 
I  hear  the  pealing  trumpets,  the  clarions'  glad  reply  ! 

The  shouts  of  joy  and  wonder  that  shake  the  arching  sky  ! 


1  The  channel  below  the  miraculous  dam  would  rapidly  run  dry,  leaving 
room  for  the  column  to  cross  with  a  front  several  miles  wide,  which  would 
be  necessary,  in  order  that  nearly  three  millions  of  people,  with  their  cattle 
and  property,  should  cross  in  one  day. 


THE   PASSAGE    OF  JORDAN,  89 

XVI. 

I  see  Jehovah's  promise  to  Abraham,  his  "friend," 

Through  four  dark  centuries  of  strife  remembered  to  the  end  ; 

And   these  are  Abraham's  children  !     To-day    their    millions 

come, 
With  matchless  might  and  miracle,  to  claim  their  long-sought 

home  ! 

XVII. 

The  wondrous  march  is  over — still  Judah  in  the  van  ; 
While,  proud  to  guard  the  dangerous  rear,  comes  firm  and 

valiant  Dan  ; 
And  now  on  Canaan's  headlands  and  beetling  bluffs  they  form. 
To  view  God's  work  accomplished,  where  man  is  but  a  worm. 

XVIII. 
Lo,  now,  twelve  giant  warriors,  from  every  standard  one. 
Stand  there  in  Jordan's  deepest  bed,  and  heave  each  man  a 

stone, 
A  massive,  wave-worn  boulder,  on  every  shoulder  strong. 
They  bear,  to  tell  this  glorious  day  through  unborn  ages  long. 

XIX. 
And  where  God's  priests  stood  steadfast  beneath  the  dreadful 

height 
Of  live   waves   curling   far   o'erhead,   and    quivering  in   their 

sight, 
There  twelve  huge,  ponderous  masses  in  ordered  pile  they  lay, 
God's  rock-built  trophy  in  the  deep,  his  witness  to  this  day. 


9©  THE  PASSAGE    OF  JORDAN. 

XX.     , 

And  now  the  wonder-working  Ark  the  white-haired  pontiffs 
guide  ; 

They  climb  the  slippery  steep,  and  touch  dry  land,  on  Ca- 
naan's side  ; 

The  bridled  floods  have  waited  the  end  of  God's  command, 

And  instant  leap,  unfettered,  from  his  relaxing  hand. 

XXI. 

With  towering  curve,  majestic,  the  watery  mountains  bend  ! 

The  liquid  precipice  o'erhangs,  one  arch,  from  end  to  end  ! 

Then  boom  ten  thousand  thunders  !     Ten  thousand  cataracts 

roar  ! 

And  tumbling,  seething  chaos  foams  and  bounds  from  shore 

to  shore  ! 

XXII. 

Down  the  long  gorge  vast  rollers   in  white-maned  squadrons 

sweep, 
Like  Ukraine's  wild  battalions,1  or  like  the  billowy  deep, 
The    glad,    the    fierce,    the    glorious,  the    thund'rous  war  of 

waves, 
When  all  the  rout  of  storms  is  out,  and  all  the  tempest  raves  ! 

XXIII. 
The  long  lake  bursts  in  grandeur  along  its  craggy  way, 
It  shoots  and  leaps  and  dashes,  and  flies  in  glittering  spray  ; 

1  Ukraine's  wild  battalions,  the  famous  herds  of  wild  horses  of  the  Ukraine, 
or  Cossack  Russia. 

"  A  tartar  of  the  Ukraine  breed."     Byron's  "  Mazeppa." 


THE   PASSAGE    OF  JORDAX.  91 

For  Jordan  the  Descender,  with  tumult  loud  and  hoarse, 
In  all  his  rage  goes  plunging  adown  his  ancient  course. 

XXIV. 
Each  summer  through  the  ages,  o'er  all  his  banks  once  more, 
Rolls  Jordan's  freshet-fury,  resistless  as  of  yore, 
But  ever,  while  earth's  rivers  pour  their  endless  hymn  to  God, 
Shall  this  be  told,  how  Israel  crossed  old  Jordan's  flood,  dry- 
shod.     • 

XXV. 

So  ever,  when  God's  chosen  march  on  in  dauntless  faith, 
And   trust  his   might,  and  do  and  dare  with    Him,  in  life   or 

death, 
Shall  rock  still  gush  with  fountains,  and  seas  and  rivers  fly. 
Till  man  and  nature  join  the  soul  inspired  for  victory. 

XXVI. 

And  ever  when  the  Canaanite  is  mighty  to  oppose, 
Jehovah's  deathless  victories  shall  awe  his  quaking  foes, 
And  tower  as  blazing  beacons  his  conquering  hosts  to  fire, 
Whose  march  sublime,  through  earth  and  time,  still  seeks  a 

kingdom  higher. 

XXVII. 
March  on,  my  soul,  undaunted,  where  duty  shines  before, 
Though  deserts  blaze  around  thee,  and  Jordans  surge  and 

roar. 
The  land  on  this  side  Jordan  is  not  thy  birthright  blest, 
March  on  and  find  thy  Canaan,  and  enter  into  rest. 


THE  OVERTHROW  OF  JERICHO. 

[Book  of  Joshua,  chapters  5  and  6.] 
I. 

Hark  ! — that  shock  !  that  crash  !  whose  thunder 

Rolls  from  Jordan's  vale  profound  ! — 
Fills  the  echoing  hills  with  wonder  ! — 

Awes  the  Amorite  regions  'round  ! — 
Rolls  through  far-off  lands  and  nations  ! — 

Swells  through  listening  earth  and  time  ! — ■ 
Told  through  endless  generations  ! — 

Sung  in  many  a  song  sublime  ! — 

II. 

When  o'er  Jordan's  flood,  affrighted, 

Israel's  host  had  crossed  dry-shod  ; 
And  the  soil  to  Abraham  plighted 

Abraham's  ransomed  children  trod  ; — 
There,  athwart  their  march,  defiant, 

Ruling  far  the  plain  below, 
On  her  rock-walled  strength  reliant, 

Frowned  the  far-famed  Jericho. 

III. 

'Round  those  ramparts,  gray  and  hoary, 
Hosts  have  raged  in  many  a  fight, 


THE    OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO.  93 

Bards  have  sung  her  power  and  glory  : 
Kings  have  owned  her  conquering  might. 

Wealth  of  realms  and  lore  of  ages 
In  her  storied  halls  are  found  ; 

Priests  and  pontiffs,  seers  and  sages, 
Temples,  altars,  shrines,  abound. 

IV. 

O'er  her  tower  her  guardian  mountains  ; 

Round  her  wave  her  groves  of  palm  ; 
At  her  foot  her  murmuring  fountains 

Lave  the  balsam,  spice,  and  balm. 
On  through  fields  and  groves  they  wander, 

Where  her  tropic  breezes  ■  blow, 
Fringed  with  cane  and  oleander  ; — 

Lovely,  fragrant  Jericho  ! 2 

V. 
But  o'er  all  her  power  and  splendor 

Hangs  a  chill  and  palsying  gloom  ; 
Gates  and  towers  in  vain  defend  her  ; 

Dawns,  foretold,  her  hour  of  doom  ! 
Dark  idolatries,  unuttered, 

Blast  her  strength  like  scorching  flame  ; 
All  her  prayers  to  fiends  are  muttered. 

All  her  shrines  are  marts  of  shame  ! 

1  On  account  of  the  great  depth  of  the  Jordan  Valley  below  the    level  of 
the  Mediterranean  Sea,  its  climate  is  tropical. 

-  Jericho  means  place  of  fragrance,  from  its  productions. 


94  THE    OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO. 

VI. 

Baal,  Lord  of  lust  unbridled  ; 

Foul  Ashtoreth  ;  Moloch  dire, 
Hymned  with  shrieks  of  infants  cradled 

In  his  brazen  arms  of  fire  ! 
Chemosh,  served  by  base-born  Ammon  ; 

Midian's  Peor,  most  obscene  ; 
Gods  of  blood  and  strife  and  mammon, 

Reign  beneath  her  bowers  of  green. 

VII. 

Woe  the  day  when  soul  or  nation 

Sets  corruption's  throne  on  high  ! 
Deifies  abomination  ! 

Flaunts  damnation  to  the  sky  ! — 
As  the  whirlwind's  shade  of  terror 

Flies  along  the  frightened  world, 
So  th'  avenging  doom  of  error 

Hails  Jehovah's  sign  unfurled  ! 

VIII. 

Lo,  where  Israel's  warrior  legions, 

Sore  from  circumcision's  vow, 
Helpless  'mid  the  foe's  wide  regions, 

Purged,  before  Jehovah  bow  ! — 
Abraham's  sign  on  Abraham's  nation  ; 

Abraham's  cov'nant  all  restored  ; 
Life-long  excommunication 

Ended  at  Jehovah's  word  ! 


THE    OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO.  95 

IX. 

Lo,  the  Paschal  lamb  now  bleeding, 

And  the  Paschal  supper  spread  ! 
Memory  back  to  Egypt  speeding, 

And  that  night  of  woe  and  dread  ! 
He  who  then  spared  Israel's  dwellings, — 

He  who  smote  the  mightier  foe, — 
He  who  curbed  old  Jordan's  swellings, — 

He  shall  smite  proud  Jericho  ! 

X. 

Israel,  purged,  in  full  communion 

Stands,  a  sacramental  host  ; 
Both  her  sacraments  in  union, 

Speak  Jehovah  all  her  boast. 
Where  her  ordered  tribes  are  blending 

All  is  peace  and  pure  accord  ; 
'Round  their  standards  all  attending 

Wait  the  mandate  of  the  Lord. 

XI. 
Now,  where  Jericho  stands  warder 

O'er  wide  Jordan's  plain  below, 
Buckler  of  the  Amorite  border, 

Joshua  walks  with  studious  brow  : — 
Views  those  battlements  amazing, 

Peers  o'er  fortress,  moat  and  plain, 
Marking,  measuring,  questioning,  gazing, 

Pondering  deep  the  great  campaign. 


g6  THE    OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO. 

XII. 
Lo  !  before  his  sight  advancing 
See  a  mighty  warrior  stand  ! 
See  the  sword,  in  sunbeams  glancing, 

Brandished  in  his  strong  right  hand  ! 
All  unarmed,  in  dress  a  yeoman, 
Bo\d  the  dauntless  chief  spake  out, 
"  Art  thou  friend  or  art  thou  foeman  ? 
Stand,  and  answer  Israel's  scout  !" 

XIII. 

"  Not  at  mortal  challenge  spoken, 
Here  I  stand  !" — A  light  divine 
O'er  that  visage  flashed  its  token — 
Heaven's  imperial  countersign  ! — 
"  But  as  Captain  here,  revealing 
Dread  Jehovah's  battle  plan, 
Here  I  stand,  my  name  concealing, 
Stand  to  guide  my  war  for  man  ! 

XIV. 

"Ask  no  more  my  name  or  nature  ! 

Loose  thy  shoe,  on  holy  ground  !" 
Glory  flashed  from  form  and  feature  !— 

Prone,  in  prostrate  awe  profound, 
Down  the  mortal  fell,  adoring  ! — 

"  Lo,  I  wait,  with  Israel's  band, 
Heaven's  all-conquering  aid  imploring  ! 

Let  Jehovah  give  command  !" 


THE   OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO.  97 

XV. 

Then  Jehovah,  undissembling  : — 

"Jericho  e'en  now  is  thine  ! 
Earth  shall  hear  her  tale  with  trembling, 

Hear,  and  own  the  deed  divine  ! 
Doom  to  blanch  the  world  with  pallor 

Swift  my  fated  hour  shall  bring  ! 
Thine  her  mightiest  men  of  valor, 

Thine  her  pontiffs,  princes,  king  ! 

XVI. 
"  Thine  ; — but  not  by  mortal  daring, 
Not  by  mortal  might  o'erthrown  ; 
Mine  the  stroke,  no  mortal  sharing, — 

Mine  the  fame,  the  spoil,  alone. 
Mine, — but  far  as  spreads  the  story 

While  the  wondering  world  grows  old, — 
Long  as  lives  Jehovah's  glory, 

Shall  your  conquering  faith  be  told. 

XVII. 
"  Sound  the  stirring  proclamation  ! 
Blow  the  trumpets,  full  and  far  ! 
Silver  trumpets  of  salvation, 

Not  the  brazen  clang  of  war  ! 
Let  the  priests  take  up  my  coffer, 

Let  the  vanguard  march  before  ; 
Fear  no  sortie,  heed  no  scoffer, 

Show  your  faith, — I  ask  no  more  !" 


98  THE   OVERTHROW  OF  JERICHO. 

XVIII. 
Lo,  at  morn  the  mighty  column 

Moves  from  Gilgal,  grand  and  slow  ! — 
Mark  the  silence,  stern  and  solemn  ! 

Hear  the  sacred  clarions  blow  ! 
See  the  tribes  from  far  o'er  Jordan, 

Reuben,  Gad,  Manasseh  strong, 
Proud  to  share  war's  toil  and  guerdon, 

Armed  and  harnessed  pour  along  ! 

XIX. 

Next  God's  awful  ark  advances, 

Where  the  sevenfold  trumpets  peal  ; — ■ 
Then  the  gathering  host,  where  glances 

Sunrise  o'er  a  sea  of  steel  ! 
Tribes  on  tribes,  no  war-cry  raising, 

Eye  their  standards  from  afar  ; — 
Each  on  high,  resplendent  blazing, 

Guides  its  myriads  like  a  star  ! 

XX. 

On,  and  on,  with  tramp  unbroken, 

Still  the  mustering  myriads  go  ! 
On,  with  ne'er  a  whisper  spoken, 

Moves  their  march  'round  Jericho  ! 
All  her  gates  with  rust  corroding  ! — 

All  her  walls  with  gazers  throng  !— 
Some  with  speechless,  dire  foreboding, 

Some  with  ribald  jeer  and  song  ! 


THE   OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO.      *  99 

XXI. 

Day  by  day  that  march  stupendous 

'Round  those  silent  gates  has  passed  ! — 
Dawns  the  seventh,  the  day  tremendous  ! — 

Dawns  the  day  of  doom  at  last  ! — 
Lo,  ere  pales  the  star  of  morning, 

Gilgal's  stirring  cornets  sound  ! — 
Hosts  on  hosts,  at  that  glad  warning, 

Armed  and  shod,  from  bivouac  bound  ! 

XXII. 

Hosts  on  hosts,  well  fed  and  furnished, 

Strong  to  dare  the  arduous  day  ! 
Hosts  on  hosts,  in  armor  burnished  ; 

War's  magnificent  array  ! 
On,  still  on,  the  trumpets  sounding, 

Lead  the  concourse  'round  and  'round  ! 
On,  still  on,  their  tramp  resounding, 

Shakes  with  fear  the  solid  ground  ! 

XXIII. 

Seven  the  priests,  and  seven  the  cornets  ; 

Seven  the  days,  the  seventh  day  seven  ! — 
Lamps  and  pitchers  ! — oxgoads  ! — hornets  ! — 

Such  the  weapons  chosen  by  heaven  ! — 
Sacred  signs  and  mystic  wonders 

Speak  Jehovah's  war  begun  ; 
Seven  apocalyptic  thunders 

Hail  at  last  the  victory  won  ! 


THE   OVERTHROW  OF  JERICHO. 

XXIV. 

Lo,  the  last  day's  sunlight  lingers, 

Journeying  down  the  western  sky  ; — 
All  its  beams,  like  Fate's  broad  fingers, 

Point  the  awful  instant  nigh  ! 
Still,  as  adamant  unshaken, 

Stand  those  century-hardened  walls  ! 
Not  a  stone, — its  bed  forsaken, — 

Not  a  flake  of  mortar,  falls  ! 

XXV. 

See,  the  last  long  round  is  ended  ; 

See  the  marshalled  legions  stand, 
In  one  mighty  circle  blended, 

Ranks  on  ranks,  now  sword  in  hand  ! 
They  who  fed  on  heavenly  manna, — 

They  who  humbled  Jordan  trod, — 
Wait  to  thunder  dread  Hosannah, 

At  the  mandate  of  their  God  ! 

XXVI. 

Hark  !  God's  solemn  proclamation 

Claims  the  treasures  he  shall  win  ; 
Claims  the  first-fruits  of  the  nation, 

Ere  his  onset  shall  begin  ! 
"  Woe  to  him  who  robs  his  Maker  ! 

Him  shall  earth  and  Heaven  confound  ! 
Blest  is  he,  with  God  partaker  ! — 

Let  the  sevenfold  trumpets  sound  !" 


THE    OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO  101 

XXVII. 
Hark  !  That  sevenfold  peal,  resounding  ! 

Long  and  loud  its  echoes  fly  ! — 
Hark  !  that  myriad  shout,  rebounding. 

Rolls  along  the  vaulted  sky  ! 
Rolls  in  more  than  mortal  volume  ! 

Booms  like  ocean's  bursting  swell  ! 
Rolls  o'er  wall,  and  arch,  and  column  ! 

Shakes  yon  inmost  citadel  ! 

XXVIII. 
Sight  amazing  ! — shock  astounding  ! — 

See  those  granite  ramparts  rise  ! 
Heaved  and  tossed  like  waves,  confounding 

Towers  and  bulwarks  in  the  skies  ! 
Walls  and  warriors  mingled  falling  ! 

Strong  defenders,  and  their  trust ! 
All,  with  yell  and  roar  appalling, 

Crashing,  thundering  to  the  dust  ! 

XXIX. 

Not  like  floods  o'er  lowlands  streaming, — 

Not  like  whirlwind's  whelming  rush, — 
Not  the  lightning's  red  bolt  gleaming, — 

Not  the  earthquake's  roll  and  crush, — 
Here  Jehovah  sent  no  servant  ! 

Here  he  bared  his  own  right  hand  ! 
Answering  faith  so  pure  and  fervent 

With  one  touch  that  shook  the  land. 


102  THE    OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO. 

XXX. 

Lo  !  where,  o'er  the  chaos  'round  it, 

Still  one  splintered  turret  towers  ! 
Lo  !  the  nest-like  house  that  crowned  it, 

Safe  as  rocked  in  summer  bowers  ! 
From  its  window,  bright  unfolding, 

Flutters  Rahab's  scarlet  cord  ! 
God's  right  hand,  that  spire  upholding, 

Owns  and  keeps  his  covenant  word  ! 

XXXI. 

Ho  !  the  lofty  ladders,  bending, 

Rise  amid  the  murky  air  ! 
Ho  !  with  thankful  haste  ascending, 

Mount  the  spies  erst  sheltered  there  ! 
Rahab,  saved,  with  father,  mother, 

Downward  tremble,  round  by  round, 
All  her  kindred,  every  brother, 

Stand,  at  last,  on  solid  ground  ! 

XXXII. 

Saved  ! — One  shout  of  generous  gladness 

Thrills  that  war-worn  veteran  host  ! 
Lightening  o'er  war's  wreck  and  madness 

Beams,  the  brighter  for  their  cost  ! — 
Ho  !  once  more  the  clarions  pealing  ! 

Ho  !  the  clash  of  sword  and  targe  ! 
Ho  !  where  glittering  cohorts,  wheeling, 

Shout  Jehovah's  final  charge  ! 


THE    OVERTHROW  OF  JERICHO.  103 

XXXIII. 
Inward  draws  the  awful  cordon  ! 

Onward  sweeps  th'  embattled  line  ! 
Serried  files  resistless  poured  on, 

In  an  avalanche  divine  ! 
On  o'er  prostrate  walls  and  arches. 

Towers  and  temples  heaped  and  hurled. 
On,  each  conquering  column  marches. 

On,  as  o'er  a  ruined  world  ! 

XXXIV. 

Sword  and  spear  and  lance  and  arrow 

Sweep  in  steely  tempest  'round  ! 
Narrower  still,  and  yet  more  narrow, 

Shrinks  that  deadly  circle's  bound  ! 
Vain  the  foeman's  charge  and  sally  ! 

Vain  the  Amorite  gods  implored  ! 
Vain  proud  Jericho's  last  rally, 

'Gainst  the  charge  of  Israel's  Lord  ! 

XXXV. 

Hark,  where  Israel's  proud  Hosannas 

Loud  and  long  in  triumph  ring  ! 
Down  go  squadrons  !     Down  go  banners  ! 

Down  go  pontiffs,  princes,  king  ! — 
Victory  !     Victory  for  Jehovah  ! 

Canaan's  bestial  gods  o'erthrown 
Point  the  day  when  all  earth  over 

Christ  shall  reign,  and  Christ  alone  ! 


04  THE   OVERTHROW  OF  JERICHO. 

XXXVI. 

Lo,  what  piles  of  spoil  and  treasure, 

Gleaned  from  subject  lands  and  towns 
Silver  heaped  like  corn,  by  measure  ! 

Gold  and  jewels,  gems  and  crowns  ! 
Altar,  temple,  shrine  and  palace 

Yield  up  many  a  sumless  hoard  ; 
Many  a  glittering  robe,  and  chalice, 

Swell  the  store  for  Israel's  Lord. 

XXXVII. 

Lo  !  where  funeral  torches,  flaring, 

Light  a  city's  blood-red  pyre  ! — 
'Mid  the  dusk  of  evening  glaring, 

Onward  rolls  the  storm  of  fire  ! 
More  and  more  the  vast  cremation 

Surging,  roaring,  mounts  on  high  ! — 
Earth  a  sea  of  conflagration  ! — 

Surf  of  flame  that  sweeps  the  sky  ! 

XXXVIII. 

All  is  o'er  ! — Yon  dying  embers, 

Reddening  all  the  midnight  dome. 
Write  a  tale  that  earth  remembers 

Through  millenniums  to  come  ! 
Write  Jehovah's  retribution, 

Emblem  of  eternal  wrath  ! — 
Write  one  sinner's  absolution, — 

Saved  by  faith  from  sin  and  death  ! 


THE    OVERTHROW   OF  JERICHO,  105 

XXXIX. 

Aye,  they  write  how  God's  campaigning 

High  o'er  mortal  wisdom  shines  ; — 
Earthly  arms  and  arts  disdaining  ; — 

Conquering  on  celestial  lines  ! 
When  the  soul,  the  church,  the  nation, 

Dares  to  trust  him,  and  obey, 
Fools  may  scoff,  but  God's  salvation 

Waits  along  th'  appointed  way. 

XL. 

When,  in  heartfelt  consecration, 

Searching  all  the  soul  within, 
Faith,  through  one  great  expiation, 

Claims  the  death  of  inbred  sin, — 
Then  that  miracle  supernal, 

Life  divine  through  Christ,  is  given, 
Life  in  God,  complete,  eternal  ; 

Canaan  here, — the  dawn  of  heaven. 

XLI. 

Thus  when  Israel,  purged  and  kneeling, 

Waits  the  Captain  of  God's  host, — 
Waits  in  faith  the  all-revealing, 

All-anointing  Holy  Ghost, — 
Then  shall  flash  the  fiery  token  ! 

Then  shall  gleam  the  Spirit's  sword  ! 
Then  from  mortal  lips  be  spoken, 

Clothed  with  might,  the  Living  Word  ! 


106  THE   OVERTHROW  OF  JERICHO. 

XLII. 
Then  the  church  shall  know  her  orders, 

By  her  Great  Commander  given  ; 
Bold  shall  claim  the  earth's  wide  borders, 

Every  foe  before  her  driven  ; — 
'Round  the  world  her  trumpets  sounded, — 

Every  Jericho  o'erthrown, — 
Every  hostile  power  confounded, — 

Christ  shall  reign  from  zone  to  zone  ! 

XLIII. 
Know,  O  Church,  thy  circumcision, 

Though  earth's  dearest  pleasures  pall ! 
Then  march  on,  'mid  earth's  derision, 

Wheresoe'er  God's  trump  shall  call. 
Haste,  O  Christ,  that  crash  of  thunder 

When  earth's  hoary  errors  fall  ! 
When  all  realms  yon  blue  heaven  under, 

Own  Jehovah  Lord  of  all. 

XLIV. 
"  Haste,  O  Christ  !"     Thy  saints  are  crying, 
"Haste  and  lead  thy  chosen  on  !" 
Hark  !  a  heavenly  voice  replying — 

"  Fall'n  is  mighty  Babylon  !" 
Jericho's  campaign  is  ended  ! 
;  Antichrist's  dominion  past  ! 
Heathen  powers,  that  long  contended, 
Ope  their  gates  to  Christ  at  last. 


THE    OVERTHROW  OF  JERICHO,  107 

XLV. 
India's  hoary  systems  totter  '. 

China's  walls  no  more  oppose  ! 
Bright  Japan,  Old  Ocean's  daughter, 

Hails  her  teachers,  erst  her  foes  ! 
Afric,  from  her  darkest  center 

Spreads  her  arms  like  Congo's  flood, — 
Bids  her  "  Pauline  Bishop"  J  enter, — 

Welcomes  hosts  that  work  for  God  ! 

XL VI. 

Eaf\h,  explored,  espied  like  Canaan, 

Soon,  like  Canaan  shall  be  won  ; 
Moslem,  Brahmin,  Boodhist,  Pagan,  ■ 

All  shall  bow,  and  kiss  God's  son. 
Joshua,  Jesus,  goes  before  us, 

Where  yon  blood-stained  banner  flies  ! 
Canaan  'round,  within,  and  o'er  us  ; — 

Endless  Canaan  in  the  skies  ! 

1  Bishop  William  Taylor,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Missionary 
Bishop  for  Africa,  and  the  greatest  mission-founder  of  this  generation,  who 
is  at  this  moment  (May  1SS5)  entering  Africa  from  both  shores  with  about 
forty  missionaries,  to  draw  a  cordon  of  missionary  posts  across  the  continent, 
along  the  southern  watershed  of  the  recently  explored  Congo. 


GIDEON'S   CAMPAIGN. 

Part  I.  The  Sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon. 

[Book  of  Judges,  chapters  6,  7.] 
I. 

"  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  !"  rose 
The  watch-cry  at  midnight  o'er  Israel's  foes — 
A  cry  that  has  rung  since  the  night  of  its  birth, 
Through  the  nations  of  men  and  the  ages  of  earth. 

II. 

Ah,  sad  was  the  thraldom  of  Israel's  race, 
Invaded  and  plundered,  in  woe  and  disgrace  ! 
The  land  was  in  mourning,  the  cities  in  dread, 
And  village  and  hamlet  despair  overspread. 

III. 

For  Israel's  seed  had  forgotten  the  Lord, 
And  bowed  to  vain  idols  and  Baals  abhorred, 
And  the  wrath  of  Jehovah  has  hissed  for  the  foe, 
And  bade  the  destroyer  the  land  overflow. 

IV. 

And  Midian  is  there  with  his  camels  untold, 
And  Amalek,  fierce  in  his  onset  of  old, 
With  the  sons  of  the  desert,  and  tribes  of  the  East, 
On  Israel's  fatness  like  locusts  to  feast. 


THE    SWORD    OF   THE   LORD   AXD    OF   GIDEOX.        IC9 

V. 
Like  waves  the  wild  raiders  in  fun*  have  pressed 
From  the  hills  of  the  East  to  the  plains  of  the  West, 
From  Gilead  to  Gaza  Arabia's  horde 
Has  ravaged  and  wasted  the  land  of  the  Lord. 

VI. 

The  ruthless  marauder  still  riots  and  raves. 

And  Israel  crouches  in  dens  and  in  caves  : 

Xo  arm  to  deliver,  no  leader,   no  rest. 

Robbed,  ravished,  and  hunted,  harassed  and  distressed. 

VII. 
Then  Israel  cried  in  her  anguish  to  God, 
Bewailing  her  sins,  and  confessing  his  rod  : 
And  God  sent  his  prophet  his  people  to  chide 
For  their  Amorite  gods,  their  rebellion,  and  pride. 

VIII. 
And  then  came  God's  angel,  and  sat  'neath  the  oak 
Of  Joash,  in  Ophrah,  that  grew  by  the  rock. 
In  the  vale,  by  the  winepress,  where,  hid  from  the  foe. 
The  wheat  sheaves  rebounded  the  thresher's  strong  blow. 

IX. 
Then  clear,  o'er  the  thunder  of  flail  after  flail, 
The  voice  of  the  angel  swelled  out  on  the  gale, 
And  bade  valiant  Gideon  rise  in  his  might. 
And  lead  forth  God's  armies  to  battle  for  right. 


no        THE   SWORD    OF    THE   LORD   AND    OF   GIDEOX. 

X. 

''Jehovah  is  with  thee,  thou  hero  !"  he  cried. 

••  Ah,  Lord,  who  am  I,"  the  meek  farmer  replied  ; 

"  In  lowly  Manasseh  my  father  is  poor, 

And  I  am  the  least  of  his  household  obscure  !" 

XI. 

"  Nay,  rise  in  this  might  of  thy  meekness,  and  go, 
And  myriads  shall  fall  as  one  man  at  thy  blow  ! 
Jehovah  hath  sent  thee,  his  word  cannot  fail, 
And  Midian  shall  fly  as  the  chaff  from  thy  flail  !" 

XII. 

Then  sacrifice  smoked  at  the  angel's  consent, 
Flame  leaped  from  the  rock  at  his  touch  as  he  wen:. 
Ascending  he  vanished  ;  God's  servant,  new-fired 
For  duty  and  freedom,  rose  rapt  and  inspired. 

XIII. 

Then  fell  Baal's  altar  and  image  by  night  ! 
Then  Joash,  converted;  grows  bold  for  the  right, 
Defies  the  wild  mob,  and  defends  his  brave  son  ! 
Abi-ezer  is  purged,  and  God's  triumph  begun. 

XIV. 

Then  echoes  God's  trump  through  the  tribes  of  che  North, 
And  Zebulon,  roused  at  the  summons,  springs  forth, 
And  Asher  and  Naphtali,  fired  at  the  word, 
Are  joined  with  Manasseh  to  war  for  the  Lord. 


THE   SWORD   OF   THE  LORD  AXD    OF  GIDEOX.        Ill 

XV. 
Then  back  to  Jehovah  flies  Gideon  again, 
For  signs  and  for  strength  in  the  doubtful  campaign  ; 
And  the  fleece  in  the  floor,  wet  or  dry,  as  he  pn 
Proclaims  triumph  waiting,  and  chides  his  delays. 

XVI. 

Then  came  God's  strange  mandate  to  winnow  the  host — 
Already  too  few — lest  vain  Israel  boast 
"  My  arm  won  the  fight  !"  and  the  cravens  at  heart, 
The  base,  the  exempts,  twenty  thousand,  depart  ! 

XVII. 
Then  He  who  reads  hearts,  and  hides  glory  from  men. 
Said,  "  Yet  they're  too  many,  sift  Israel  again  ! 
Sound  the  charge  !"     And  nine  thousand  seven  hundred 

low. 
And  drink  long,  at  the  brook,  for  they  quail  at  the  foe  ! 

XVIII. 
But  three  hundred  heroes,  with  spirits  aflame 
For  the  glory  of  God,  and  at  Israel's  shame. 
Scarce  lap  from  their  hands,  as  they  bound  o'er  the  ford. 
And  charge  on  the  foe,  in  the  wrath  of  the  Lord. 

XIX. 

"  Take  those,"  said  Jehovah  ;   "  the  rest  to  their  tents  ! 
Give  me  men  of  fire,  who  are  done  with  laments, 
"Whose  souls  leap  for  action,  with  ardor  aglow. 
Like  the  spark  from  the  steel,  or  the  shaft  from  the  bow  ! 


H2         THE   SWORD    OF    THE   LORD   AND    OF  GIDEON 

XX. 

"  By  those  will  I  save  you  ;  in  them  is  the  stuff 
God's  heroes  are  made  of  ;    with  God  they're  enough 
To  scatter  proud  Midian  like  leaves  in  the  gale  : 
But  now,  in  such  strain,  if  thy  courage  should  fail, 

XXI. 

Take  Purah,  thy  servant,  go  down  to  the  host, 
And  learn  from  themselves  that  already  they're  lost, 
'Ere  a  sword  has  been  drawn  !"    Trembling  Gideon  obeys, 
And  the  dreams  they  are  telling  the  listeners  amaze. 

XXII. 

"  A  barley  loaf  tumbled  among  us  this  night, 
And  smote  a  huge  tent,  and  o'erturned  it  outright," 
Said  one  ;  said  another,  "  This  loaf  is  the  son 
Of  Joash  the  farmer,  and  Midian's  undone  !" 

XXIII. 
O'erawed  at  God's  token,  the  hero  returns  , 
Strange  ardor  within  him  like  prophecy  burns  : 
"  Arise  !  for  Jehovah  hath  given  the  sign, 
And  Midian  is  doomed  by  an  omen  Divine  !" 

XXIV. 

The  torches  in  pitchers  are  lighted  in  haste, 
The  trumpets  are  grasped,  and  the  brave  bands  are  placed  ; 
Around  each  vast  camp,  one  weak  hundred,  they  stand, 
But  heaven's  bright  seraphim  wait  the  command. 


THE    SWORD    OF    THE   LORD   AXD    OF   GIDEOX.        113 

XXV. 

Then  broke  on  the  midnight  the  sudden  loud  crash  ! 
Then  blazed  through  the  midnight  the  lightning-like-flash  ! 
Then  pealed  through  the  midnight  the  trumpets'  fierce  clang, 
Till  rocks,  hills,  and  caverns  re-echoing  rang  ! 

XXVI. 
Then  "  The  Sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  .'"  rose 
The  watch-cry  of  terror  o'er  Israel's  foes  ; 
From  hundred  to  hundred  thrills  onward  the  cry. 
From  mountain  to  mountain  the  echoes  reply  ! 

XXVII. 
Gilboa's  rough  crags  to  the  clangor  resound  ! 
From  wild  little  Hermon  the  trumpets  rebound  ! 
Till  "  The  Sword  of  Jehovah  and  Gideon!"  rolls 
Like  thunders  of  doom  from  the  sky  to  the  poles  ! 

XXVIII. 
But  hark  !  what  wild  clamor  now  swells  from  the  vale  ! 
Rage,  terror,  and  agony  !    Anger  and  wail  ! 
And  outcry,  and  clashing,  and  trampling,  and  roar, 
Like  torrents,  or  waves  on  the  storm-beaten  shore  ! 

XXIX. 

Yells  !  shouts  of  command  !   shrieks  of  frenzy  and  fear  ! 
Rise  dire  o'er  the  clatter  of  armor  and  spear, 
And  wild  squadrons  rush  without  order  or  form. 
Like  clouds  in  the  whirlwind,  or  ships   in  the  storm  ! 


114        THE    SWORD    OF    THE   LORD   AND    OF   GIDEON. 

XXX. 

'Tis  the  arm  of  Jehovah  made  bare  in  his  wrath  ! 
Tis  the  glare  of  his  lightning,  the  gleam  of  its  scath  ! 
For  the  "  Sword  of  the  Lord  "  from  its  scabbard  has  leapt, 
And  armies  like  corn  in  its  compass  are  reapt  ! 

XXXI. 

And  Midian  and  Amalek,  partners  in  spite, 
Like  stubble  are  swept  by  his  besom  of  might, 
And  the  sword  of  Manasseh,  and  Gideon's  shout, 
Still  rage  on  their  rear  through  the  night  of  the  rout  ! 

XXXII. 

Down  Jezreel's  dark  valley  the  doom-maddened  host 

Like  foam,  on  red  billows  of  carnage,  is  tost, 

Till  Ephraim  springs,  like  a  lion  in  power, 

To  the  fords  of  the  Jordan,  to  rend  and  devour  ! 

XXXIII. 
There  the  steeds  of  the  desert,  the  camel's  tall  pride, 
And  their  riders,  are  swept  on  the  gore-purpled  tide, 
And  Oreb  and  Zeeb,  with  their  princes,  go  down, 
At  the  rock  and  the  winepress  to  ghastly  renown. 

XXXIV. 

O  Sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  !  what  light, 
What  glory  unfading,  has  streamed  from  that  night, 
When  three  hundred  heroes,  with  this  for  their  cry, 
Stood  up  for  Jehovah,  to  conquer  or  die  ! 


THE    SWORD    OF    THE   LORD-  AXD    OF   G  IDE  OX.        115 

XXXV. 

The  three  hundred  Spartans,1  who  guarded  the  way, 
Were  content,  in  the  pass,  to  keep  thousands  at  bay. 
But  these  took  the  field,  made  the  onset,  with  glare 
Of  torches,  each  man  as  a  target  laid  bare  ! 

XXXVI. 

Those  died  where  they  stood,  for  their  country  and  law 
These  triumphed  sublimely,  for  God  and  his  cause  ; 
Both  equal  in  glory.     The  brave  can  meet  death, 
But  the  saints  of  Jehovah  shall  triumph  by  faith. 

XXXVII. 
O  Freedom,  thy  martyrs  are  martyrs  for  God  ! 
And,  conquering  or  dying,  the  soil  they  have  trod, 
In  man's  last  high  struggle  of  body  and  soul, 
Is  hallowed  while  ages  on  ages  shall  roll  ! 

XXXVIII. 
O  Faith,  when  thy  rapture  celestial  has  fired 
The  souls  that  Jehovah's  own  breath  has  inspired, 

1  At    the    famous    pass    of    Thermopylae,    when    Leonidas    and    his    three 
hundred  fell,  resisting  Xerxes  and  his  three  millions  of  Persians. 

9  So  the  beautiful  epigrammatic  epitaph  written  for  their  monument  at  Ther- 
mopylae by  the  poet  Simonides  of  Ceos  : 

Q  gen?)  ayye&av  AaKedai/uovio/c.  on  -fide 
Keiuueda.  role  keIvuv  rretdo/xevoi  vofiioiq. 
which  I  translate  : 

Go,  Stranger-friend,  to  glorious  Sparta  tell 
That  here,  t'  obev  her  laws,  we  slumber  Well  ! 

G.  L.  T. 


116        THE    SWORD    OF    THE   LORD  AND    OF   GIDEON. 

Then  shall  one  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  to  flight 
Ten  thousand  fierce  foes,  in  the  battle  for  right  ! 

XXXIX. 

God's  handful,  clean  sifted  from  idols  and  shirks, 

Each  soul  a  burnt  offering,  faith  shown  by  works, 

Stark  radicals,  stripped  of  the  world,  and  aflame 

With  the  baptism  of  fire,  shall  shake  earth  in  God's  name  ! 

XL. 

O  Church  of  Jehovah,  thy  victory  know  ! 
'Tis  Purity  strikes  the  all-conquering  blow  ; 
And  Faith  and  Devotion,  her  offspring  sublime, 
Have  conquered  for  God  since  the  dawning  of  time. 

XLI. 

O  Zion,  o'erwhelmed  by  the  rush  of  the  world, 
Thy  trumpets  all  silent,  thy  banners  all  furled, 
Thy  torches  unkindled,  thy  joy  and  thy  shout 
All  deadened  and  -drowned  in  an  ocean  of  doubt  ; — 

XLII. 
O  Zion,  come  forth  from  thy  caverns  and  holes, 
And  cast  thy  false  gods  to  the  bats  and  the  moles  ! 
Take  thy  torch  and  thy  trumpet,  grasp' buckler  and  sword, 
And  charge  o'er  the  earth  in  the  might  of  the  Lord  ! 

XLIII. 
O  Spirit  whose  breath  kindled  heroes  of  old, 
And  swept  the  invader  in  wrath  from  God's  fold, 


FAINT,    YET   PURSUING.  117 

Rise  !   Blow  on  these  ages,  and  send  us  once  more 
The  Sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  of  yore  ! 

XLIV. 

Then  Zion  shall  shine  forth  as  fair  as  the  moon, 
And  clear  as  the  sun  in  the  splendor  of  June  ! 
Like  an  army  with  banners  shall  shout  on  her  way, 
And  nations  be  born  to  the  Lord  in  a  day  ! 

XLV. 
Then  Error's  dark  legions  to  night  shall  be  hurled  ! 
Then  Zion's  pure  glory  shall  gladden  the  world  ! 
Then  the  Lord  shall  descend  in  his  kingdom  again, 
And  Earth  shout  Hosanna,  Heaven  echo  Amen  ! 


Part  II.     "  Faint,   vet  Pursuing." 

[Book  of  Judges,  chapter  8.] 
I. 

"  Faint — faint,  yet  pursuing,"  rose  Gideon's  band, 
From  Jordan's  wild  surges  to  Gilead's  land  ; 
Drenched,  battle-worn,  weary,  they  paused  not  for  rest, 
For  "faint,  yet  pursuing,"  is  valor's  last  test. 

II. 

The  "  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  "  had  blazed, 
A  meteor  terror,  o'er  armies  amazed, 
And  Midian  and  Amalek,  swept  from  their  spoil, 
In  madness  and  ruin  were  hurled  from  God's  soil. 


FAINT,    YET  PURSUING. 

III. 

Yet  full  fifteen  thousand,  escaped  from  the  sword 
Through  Ephraim's  envy,  passed  armed  o'er  the  ford, 
To  muster  in  Karkor  the  wreck  of  their  state, 
And  nurse  in  the  desert  their  vengeance  and  hate. 

IV. 

These,  too,  must  be  scattered.     No  power  must  remain 
The  war  to  renew  and  vex  Israel  again  ; 
No  moment  for  glory,  or  pride's  fond  deceit, 
Till  God's  work  is  ended  in  victory  complete. 

V. 

The  chiding  of  Ephraim's  anger  is  quelled, 
The  Jordan  is  forded,  with  harvest  flood  swelled  ; 
Weak,  weary,  and  hungry,  from  midnight  to  dawn, 
The  three  hundred  heroes  through  perils  press  on. 

VI. 

'Tis  sunrise,  and  Succoth's  wide  portals  unfold, 
Where  Jacob  built  booths  for  his  pied  herds  of  old — 
"  Give  bread  to  your  brethren,"  the  victor  implored, 
u  We  fight,  for  your  rescue,  the  wars  of  the  Lord." 

VII. 

O  baseness  unspeakable  !     Bondage  to  self  ! 

What  cravens  and  cowards  like  cowards  for  pelf  ? 

"Are  Zebah,  Zalmunna,  thy  captives,"  they  whine, 

"  That  we  should  give  bread  to  these  braggarts  of  thine  ?" 


FA IX  T,    YET  PURSUING.  119 

VIII. 

On,  on  to  Penuel,  where  Jacob  all  night 

Erst  wrestled  with  God  till  the  dawning  of  light, 

And,  gloriously  lame,  as  an  "  Israel  "  rose, 

A  prince  with  Jehovah,  to  vanquish  his  foes. 

IX. 
Once  more  the  faint  call,  for  what  force  might  demand  — 
"  Give  bread,  I  beseech  you,  to  ration  my  band  ; 
We  wrestle  for  God,  who  here  blessed  our  great  sire  ;" 
But  baseness  once  more  stirred  the  conqueror's  ire. 

X. 

What  fitter  than  scourges  of  bramble  and  thorn 
For  vilest  poltroons  in  man's  image  e'er  born  ? 
What  fitter  than  overthrow,  infamy,  shame, 
For  bosoms  that  burn  not  with  patriot  flame  ? 

XI. 
But  vengeance  to-morrow — to-day  for  the  foe  ! 
Faint,  footsore,  and  famishing,  onward  they  go, 
Through  hunger  and  weariness,  sleeplessness,  spite, 
The  taunts  of  the  day,  and  the  gloom  of  the  night. 

XII. 
From  midnight  to  midnight  their  iron-like  tramp 
Rings  on,  through  the  blaze  of   the  noon,  the  chill  damp 
Of  night  dews,  undaunted  by  distance  or  time, 
In  the  grandeur  of  heroism,  stern  and  sublime  ! 


120  FAINT,    VET  PURSUING. 

XIII. 

The  Jabbok's  wild  gorge  they  have  threaded  at  last, 
His  far-foaming  torrent  is  forded  and  passed, 
And  out  o'er  the  desert,  beneath  the  fierce  stars, 
Sweeps  on  the  swift  march  by  the  red  light  of  Mars. 

XIV. 

Not    rash,  though    relentless,  those    souls  without    fear- 
The  foe  will  be  wary — a  watch  at  his  rear  ; 
Through  Nobah  and  Jogbehah  wide  their  detour, 
That  smites  on  the  flank  his  encampment  secure. 

XV. 

Then  wild  rose  the  clangor  of  trumpet  and  targe  ! 
Then  rushed  like  tornado  that  lion-like  charge  ! 
And  Midian's  shriek  answered  Amalek's  yell 
Where  Israel's  sword  like  a  thunderbolt  fell  ! 

XVI. 

One  moment  of  horror,  and  slaughter,  and  gore, 
And  crash,  as  of  shipwreck  on  hurricane  shore, 
And,  wild  o'er  the  desert,  stark,  howling,  and  riven, 
That  host,  like  the  sand  in  the  whirlwind,  is  driven. 

XVII. 

No  moment  for  arming,  no  refuge,  no  rest, 
By  the  sword  of  Jehovah  and  Gideon  pressed, 
Till  the  last  wail  expires,  like  a  sigh  on  the  blast, 
And  the  brave  Baal-fighter  is  victor  at  last  ! 


FAIXT,    YET  PURSUIXG.  121 

XVIII. 

Is  Victor  !  and  Israel,  scourged  and  restored. 
Now  safely  shall  dwell  in  the  smile  of  her  Lord  ; 
While  her  hero,  once  scorned,  now  her  sceptre  disdains, 
And  answers — "  God  only  o'er  Israel  reigns." 

XIX. 

Ah.  "  faint,  yet  pursuing,"  is  valor's  last  test, 
The  last  pulse  of  fire  in  the  conqueror's  breast  : 
Toil,  weakness,  and  treason,  and  terror  outbraved, 
The  hero  endures  to  the  end.  and  is  saved. 

XX. 

Xo  triumph  abides  but  the  triumph  o'er  all  : 

The  last  foe  in  armor  must  fly  or  must  fall  ; 

Then  sweet  to  the  hero  is  slumber  from  toil. 

In  the  tents  of  the  vanquished,  refreshed  with  the  spoil. 

XXI. 
O  soul  in  affliction  !      O  spirit  in  strife  ! 
In  battle  for  righteousness,  liberty,  life. 
Know,  know  that  all  raptures  in  victory  blend. 
And,  "  faint,  yet  pursuing,"  pursue  to  the  end  ! 

XXII. 
O  Thou  whose  last  anguish  wrought  hope  for  a  world. 
And  Hell's  black  invasion  to  Tartarus  hurled, 
Gird  us  in  all   weakness,  in  peril  defend  : 
So  "  faint,  yet  pursuing."  we'll  strive  to  the  end. 


i  2  2  E IJSIIA '  S  FIER  Y   CIIA  RI( )  TS. 

XXIII. 
Then,  then,  of  our  Canaan  forever  possessed, 
No  foe  shall  invade  our  inviolate  rest  ; 
The  smile  of  our  Gideon  shall  sunshine  afford, 
And  peace  shall  o'erflow  in  the  land  of  the  Lord. 


ELISHA'S    FIERY    CHARIOTS. 

[Second  Book  of  Kings,  6 :  8-23.] 
I. 

At  Dothan  dwelt  Elisha,  where  Joseph's  brethren1  brought 
Their    herds    to  fresher    pastures,    from    Shechem's    parching 

drought ; 
Where,  moved  with  wrathful  envy  at  the  seer-like  dreams  he 

told, 
They  sold  their  father's  darling  for  greedy  Ishmael's  gold. 

II. 
At  Dothan  dwelt  Elisha,  on  whom  the  spirit  came 
Of  great  Elijah,  snatched  to   heaven  in  the  chariot  of  flame  ;  2 
And  there  o'er  Israel's  welfare  he  watched  with  patriot  care, 
And  eyes  that  farthest  saw  o'er  earth,  when  closed  to  earth,  in 
prayer. 

1  Gen.  37  :  17.  '  II.  Kings  2  :  11. 


ELISIIA'S  FIERY   CHARIOTS.  123 

III. 
Full  oft  fierce  Syria  plotted  her  silent,  swift  campaign. 
But  one  inspired  clairvoyant  soul  saw  every  ambush  plain  ; 
Illumed    from    heaven,    clear-seeing,  each    midnight    raid   he 

scanned, — 
One  visioned  soul  on  picket  guard,  defending  all  the  land  ! 

IV. 

Then   Syria's  king  was   troubled, -and   quaked  with    nameless 

fear  ; 
And  cried  :  "  Ah,  who  will  show  me  the  traitor  lurking  here  ?" 
"  Xo  traitor  here,  but  Israel's  seer  to  Israel's  king  declares 
Thy  midnight  word,  thy  midnight   march,  and   baffles  all  thy 

snares." 

V. 
Then   spake   Benhadad  :'   "  Muster  once  more  a  mighty   host. 
And    bring    me,  captive,   Israel's    seer,  her    buckler   and    her 

boast  ; 
Who   then   shall    spy  our   counsels  ? — who  then,  with  wizard  3 

sight, 
Shall    scan    our    midnight  marches,  and  foil  our    conquering 

might  ?" 

1  Ezek.  3  :  17  and  33  :  7.  -  II.  Kings  6  :  24, 

3  Wizard  sight.  Xo  doubt  this  was  Benhadad's  opinion  of  the  nature  of 
the  inspiration  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  making  them  tricksters,  or  trance- 
seers  at  best,  whose  gift  was  in  part  natural,  in  part  artificial,  and  in  no 
case  reliable,  or  conferring  the  power  of  self-defence.  This  view  explains 
his  attempt  to  capture  Elisha. 


124  ELISHA'S  FIERY   CHARIOTS. 

VI. 
Lo,  now,  the  mighty  cordon,  by  night  'round  Dothan  drawn, 
O'erwhelms   her   dwellers  with   amaze,   at   morning's   earliest 

dawn  ! 
Damascus'  steel-clad  horsemen,  her  chariots  blazing  'round, 
An  empire  marshalled  in  array,  one  prophet  to  confound  ! 

VII. 
"  Alas  !  alas  !   my  Master  !"  the  trembling  servant  1  cries, 
"  What  shall  we  do  ?     How  can  we  'scape  this  stern  and  dire 

surprise  ?" 
"  They  that  be  for  us,"  calmly  the  dauntless  seer  replies, 
"  Are  more  than  they  against  us  ;  Lord,  open  the  young  man's  eyes  /" 

VIII. 

One  moment  from  his  spirit  earth's  dimming  veil  is  dashed, — 

One  moment  on  his  vision  the  unseen  world  3  is  flashed  ! 

And  lo  !  around  God's  prophet  Samaria's  mountains  flame 

With  hosts  of  light  whose   cohorts  bright  no  mortal  tongue 

can  name  ! 

IX. 

Legion  on  legion  !     Phalanx  on  phalanx  !     Square  on  square  ! 
In  dense  and  serried  splendor  they  garrison  3  the  air  ! 

'  Not  Gehazi,  who  had  been  smitten  with  leprosy  and  dismissed  (II.  Kings 
5  :  27),  but  probably  some  young  prophet  from  the  schools,  who  had  not 
yet  seen  the  wonders    of  a  full  inspiration. 

2  "  Millions  of  spiritual  creatures  walk  the  earth 
Unseen,  both  when  we  wake  and  when  we  sleep." 
3  Psa.  34  :  7.  — "  Paradise  Lost,"  iv.,  676  ;  also  Heb.  1  :  14. 


ELISHA'S  FIERY   CHARIOTS.  ir; 

And  steeds  of  dazzling  brightness,  and  chariots  all  ablaze 
With  ruby  fire,  where  emerald  tire  round  diamond  axle  plays  ! 

X. 
One  moment  on  the  mortal  the  heavenly  vision  glowed, — 
One  chariot  for  Elijah,1  to  waft  his  soul  to  God. — 
But  thousands  !   myriads  !   millions  !   in  unseen  hosts  sublime.2 
To  fight  Jehovah's  battles  here  upon  the  fields  of  time  ! 

XI. 

And  when  God's  saints  illumined  by  faith  that  lights  the  mind, 

Behold  his  power,  and  joy  in  him,  then  all  their  foes  are  blind  ; 

Like  humbled  Syria's  legions,  an  army  captive  led 

By  that  one  swordless    man    they    marched    to   take,  alive   or 

dead  ! 

XII. 

O  Soul,  know  thou  thy  convoy  through  all  this  low  dark  life, 
Amid  its  toils  and  sorrows,  its  bitterness  and  strife  : 
The  bright  "  heaven  lies  about  us  "  not  "  in  infancy"  z  alone. — 
Heaven  bathes  and  swathes  this  living  world   through  every 
age  and  zone. 

XIII. 

And  he  who,  rapt  and  lifted,  illumed  by  light  divine. 
In  God,  for  God,  obeys,  shall  see  that  viewless  world  outshine  ; 
All  eye,  ail  ear,  all  spiritual  sense,  the  spiritual  world  shall  ken, 
And  know  his  own  apocalypse,  and  walk  a  seer  'mongst  men. 

1  II.  Kings  2  :  ii.  -  Psa.  63  :  17  ;  Hab.  3  :  S  ;  Zech.  6  :  1-7 

3  "  Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy." 

—  Wordsworth,  "  Intimations  of  Immortality."  v.  9. 


126  JEHOSIIAPIIATS  DELI  VERA  XCE. 

XIV. 

And  he  who,  'gainst  ten  thousand  embattled  for  the  wrong, 
Still    meekly,  boldly  stands    for  God,  in    God's   strength    only 

strong, — 
For  him  God's  re-enforcements  omnipotent  shall  ride  ; 
Rivers  and  stars  '  and  unknown  worlds  shall  battle  on  his  side. 

XV. 

Stand  then,  O  Soul,  serenely,  God's  sentry  in  thy  place, 

In    instant   prayer,  with   opened  eyes,  and  speak  thy  word,  by 

grace  ; 
And  he  who  would  o'erwhelm  thee,  by  guile  or  tyrant  rod, 
Must   meet   the   universe   in  arms,  and  measure  swords  with 

God. 


JEHOSHAPHAT'S  DELIVERANCE. 

[Second  Book  of  Chronicles,  chapter  20  ;   and  Joel,  chapter  3.] 
I. 

Jehoshaphat  reigned  over  Judah  in  peace  ; 
The  land  lay  in  quiet  and  teemed  wTith  increase  ; 
For  righteousness  ruled,  from  the  cot  to  the  throne. 
And  Judah  rejoiced  in  Jehovah  alone. 

II. 

For  (Baal's  base  worship  once  hurled  from  God's  land) 
Prosperity  poured  from  his  liberal  hand  ; 
The  law  was  revered  and  the  temple  restored, 
And  Salem  shone  bright  in  the  smile  of  her  Lord. 

1  Kishon  and  the  "  stars  in  their  courses." — Judges  5  :  20.  21. 


JEHOSHAPHATS  DELIVER  A  XCE.  127 

III. 
Then  came  a  swift  message  of  terror  and  fear  : 
"  Lo,  Moab,  and  Ammon,  and  Edom  from  Seir, 
Have  swarmed  from  the  desert,  a  numberless  host, 
To  pillage  our  cities  and  plunder  our  coast  ! 

IV 
"  From  Moab's  black  mount,  down  the  Scorpion-pass, 
They  have  marched  by  the  sea-shore,  a  myriad  mass  : 
And  now  on  their  rapine  already  they  gloat. 
In  the  Forest  of  Palms,  by  the  Fount  of  the  Goat  ! 

V. 

"  A  black  cloud  of  evil,  a  whirlwind  of  fate, 
One  day's  rapid  march  from  Jerusalem's  gate  : 
Like  locusts  they  light  upon  Judah's  fair  realm  ! 
Like  demons  descend  to  devour  and  o'erwhelm  !" 

VI. 
Then  trembling  Jehoshaphat  feared  and  proclaimed 
A  fast  for  all  Judah  ;  and  sacrifice  flamed, 
And  Judah's  strong  warriors,  with  children,  and  wives, 
In  the  house  of  Jehovah  implored  for  their  lives. 

VII. 
"  Lord  God  of  our  fathers,  in  heaven  adored, 
Thou  rulest  on  earth,  our  Omnipotent  Lord  : 
Fierce  kingdoms  of  heathen  obey  thy  command  : 
The  might  of  thy  majesty  none  can  withstand  ! 


128  JEHOSHAPHATS  DELIVERANCE. 

VIII. 
"  Art  thou  not  our  God,  who  hast  sworn  to  defend 
Forever  the  children  of  Abrah'm  thy  friend  ? 
Who  gav'st  us  this  land,  and  forbad'st  us  to  slay 
Our  fierce,  jealous  kindred,  who'd  make  us  their  prey  ? 

IX. 

"  Behold  in  thy  presence  our  little  ones  stand, 
Like  lambs  in  thy  fold  when  the  wolf  is  at  hand  ! 
()  wilt  thou  not  judge  them  ?  thy  terror  we  know  ; 
Thy  might  to  o'erwhelm  our  implacable  foe  ! 

X. 

"  No  might  of  our  own,  no  prowess  we  boast 

To  meet  and  to  vanquish  this  numberless  host, 

Nor  know  we  aught  farther  ;  our  eyes  are  on  thine  ;" — 

The  verge  of  the  human  must  touch  the  divine  ! 

XI. 

Then  swift  on  the  singer  Jahaziel  came 

The  Spirit  of  God,  like  a  baptism  of  flame. 

From  the  midst  of  the  people,  who  prostrate  adored, 

He  leapt,  as  on  fire  with  the  word  of  the  Lord  ! 

XII. 

"  Ho  !   Hearken  all  Judah  !  Jerusalem  sad, 
And  thou,  King  Jehoshaphat,  hear  and  be  glad  ! 
For  thus  saith  Jehovah,  your  champion  divine  : 
'  Ye  bring  me  your  battle — I  take  it  as  mine  ! 


JEHOSHAPHATS  DELIVERANCE.  129 

XIII. 
"  '  To-morrow  go  down  :  yet  ye  go  not  to  fight. 
But  to  stand  and  behold  my  salvation  and  might  ; 
To  shout,  while  Jehovah  shall  charge  on  the  foe, 
With  nameless  and  awful  and  utter  o'erthrow  !  ' ' 

XIV. 
Then  prostrate,  adoring,  fell  monarch  and  throng  : 
Then  thundered,  exultant,  the  Kohathite  song  : 
And  cymbal  and  psaltery,  timbrel  and  lyre. 
Awoke  at  the  rapture  and  wafted  it  higher. 

XV. 
Then  bold  on  the  morrow,  unawed,   undismayed. 
Marched  forth  to  God's  battle  that  weird  cavalcade  ; 
Unarmed  and  unarmored,  no  shield  and  no  sword, 
Sole  trusting  the  terrible  word  of  the  Lord. 

XVI. 
Tekoa's  wild  echoes  their  anthems  rebound, 
And  Jeruel's  wilderness  wakes  at  the  sound  : 
Xot  war  songs  of  slaughter,  not  wrath  at  the  foe. 
But  the  Beauty  of  Holiness  swells  as  they  go. 

XVII. 
The  mercies  of  God  that  forever  endure, 
His  judgments  tremendous,  his  righteousness  sure, 
His  kindness  unchanging,  his  goodness  untold. 
With  song  and  with  trumpet  the  grand  paean  rolled  ! 


130  JEHOSHAPHATS  DELIVERANCE. 

XVIII. 

Then  lo  !  as  unconsciously  onward  they  trod, 
Leapt  forth  on  their  foe  the  dread  ambush  of  God  ! 
The  power  that  breathes  order,  and  star-clusters  burn, 
Bade  chaos  and  madness  one  moment  return  ! 

XIX. 

For  Moab  and  Ammon  and  Maon  and  Seir, 

In  anger  and  jealousy,  frenzy  and  fear, 

Have  rent  the  fierce  compact  which  now  they  abhor. 

And  charged  on  each  other,  like  whirlwinds  at  war  ! 

XX. 

And  Moab  and  Ammon  on  Edom  now  wheel  ; 
And  Maon  is  swept  with  their  tempest  of  steel  ; 
Then,  frantic,  they  rush  on  each  other  in  ire, 
And  all  in  a  whirlpool  of  slaughter  expire  ! 

XXI. 

What  wizard  his  wand  of  enchantment  has  waved  ? 

What  demon  his  dire  malediction  has  raved  ? 

What  magic  infernal,  no  numbers  can  name, 

Has  hurled  on  whole  armies  its  mind-scorching  flame  ? 

XXII. 
'Tis  the  arm  of  Jehovah,  for  Zion  made  bare  ! 
'Tis  his  banner  of  wrath  blazing  out  on  the  air  ! 
'Tis  the  scath  of  his  vengeance,  the  blast  of  his  breath, 
Sweeping  hot  as  the  fire-wind  o'er  harvests  of  death  ! 


JEHOSHAPHAT S  DELIVERANCE.  131 

XXIII. 

Tis  a  heaven-sent  fury  God's  foes  to  confound  ! 
Tis  his  meteor  sword  dealing  madness  around  ! 
Till  the  last  fierce  invader  lies  pale  and  o'erthrown 
Where  red  heaps  of  havoc  and  slaughter  are  strewn  ! 

XXIV. 
Then,  from  her  high  watch-tower,  afar  o'er  the  plain, 
Gazed  Judah  in  awe  over  myriads  slain. 
And  heaped  a  new  harvest  from  blood-watered  soil  ; 
Of  jewels  and  trappings  and  raiment  and  spoil. 

XXV. 

Three  days  swelled  that  harvest  of  treasure  untold, 
A  harvest  unplanted,  a  trophy  of  gold, 
Till  the  storm  that  descended  in  wrath  to  destroy 
Left  Judah  exulting  in  riches  and  joy. 

XXVI. 
Then  blessings  untold  from  Berachah  ascend  ; 
Then  trumpet  and  cornet  and  cithara  blend 
With  tabret  and  dulcimer,  sackbut  and  shalm, 
In  Zion's  Hosanna,  her  rapturous  psalm. 

XXVII. 
And  Judah,  delivered,  through  time  shall  declare 
The  power  all-victorious  of  penitent  prayer — 
The  prayer  that  falls  prostrate  on  promises  strong, 
Till  flashes  God's  answer  in  fire  and  in  song. 


132  JEHOSHAPHATS  DELIVERANCE. 

XXVIII. 

And  nations  are  awed  at  Jehovah's  dread  might, 
Whose  arm  overwhelming  fought  Israel's  fight ; 
And  ages  his  "  rest  round  about1'  1  shall  record, 
Who  dared  leave  his  battle  alone  to  the  Lord. 

XXIX. 

And  prophets  shall  sing,  until  prophecy  fail, 

The  judgment  of  God  in  Jehoshaphat's  vale  ; 2 

Dread  vale  of  Decision  ! — where  nations  shall  crowd 

To  the  doom  of  the  world,  from  Christ's  throne  on  the  cloud  ! 

XXX. 

Then,  then  shall  Jehovah  earth's  mighty  bring  low,3 
Her  winepress  be  full,  and  her  vats  overflow  ; 4 
Then  sinners  like  chaff  from  God's  flail 5  shall  be  driven, 
But  Judah,  his  saints,  shall  be  garnered  in  heaven. 

1  II.  Chron.  20  :  30. 

2  Joel  3  :  2.  The  name  Jehoshaphat  means  "  Judgment  of  Jehovah."  An 
old  Jewish  tradition  makes  the  scene  of  this  victory  to  be  the  appointed  place 
of  the  world's  final  judgment. 

3  Ibid.  3  .  12 — margin. 

4  Ibid.  3  :  13.     Treading  the  winepress  is  a  symbol  of  retribution. 

5  Ibid.  3  :  14.  "Valley  of  Decision,"  margin  of  A.  V.  "  Concision  ox  thresh- 
ing" which  is  the  judgment  and  separation  of  the  wheat  and  the  chaff. 


THE    FIERY    FURNACE. 

[Book  of  Daniel,  chapter  3,  and  Song  of  the  Three  Holy  Children.] 
I. 

What  means  this  mighty  concourse  on  Dura's  boundless  plain; 
The  trumpet's   peal,   the  clang  of    steel,    till    earth    resounds 

again  ? 
Old  Babylon  has  opened  her  hundred  gates  of  brass, 
Through  every  arch  her  cohorts  march,  her  hundred  armies 

pass. 

II. 

Still  swells  the  matchless  muster,  with  banners  far  unfurled, 
O'er  barbarous  hosts  from  far-off  coasts  that  bound  the  Asian 

world  ; 
And  provinces  and  kingdoms  and  cities  in  array. 
With  princes,  captains,  rulers,  join  to  honor  this  great  day. 

III. 
Great  Nebuchadnezzar's  empire  in  splendor  girds  his  throne 
"Where  he,  in  godlike  majesty,  sits  dazzling  and  alone  ; 
This  day  shall  crown  his  triumphs,  this  day  shall  swell   his 

fame, 
And  spread    through  all  the  orient    world    the    glory  of    his 

name. 


134  THE  FIERY  FURNACE. 

IV. 
There  towers  the  votive  statue,  the  gift  of  spoils  untold, 
Colossal  grandeur  in  its  form,  and  all  refulgent  gold  ; 
To  mighty  Bel,  the  conqueror's    god,  his    homage    proud   is 

shown, 
But  king  and  god  are  one,  for  lo  !   the  features  are  his  own  ! 

V. 

Then  sounds  the  proclamation,  by  herald's  trumpets  flung 
Afar  o'er  all  the  countless  throng  in  many  a  various  tongue  : — 
"  What  time  the  sound  of  cornet  and  flute  and  harp  shall  rise. 
And  sackbut,  psaltery,  dulcimer,  shall  mingle  in  the  skies, — 

VI. 

"  Then  every  tribe  and  nation  in  reverent  worship  fall, 
And  own  the  god  set  up  by  him  whose  sceptre  rules  ye  all  ; 
And  he  who  falls  not  prostrate  yon  fiery  furnace  claims, — 
For  him  awaits  the  instant  doom  of  yon  devouring  flames  !" 

VII. 

Thus  runs  the  tyrant's  mandate.     Anon  sweet  strains  ascend, 
And  billowy  waves  of  harmony  with  all  the  breezes  blend  ; 
And  now  the  abject  myriads,  far  as  the  anthems  sound, 
With    mitred    priests  and  sceptred    kings,  fall   grovelling  on 
the  ground  ! 

VIII. 

Not  all  !   Three  youthful  rulers,  with  forms  of  Hebrew  mould, 
Hard  by  the  throne  itself,  bow  not,  but  stand  erect  and  bold  ; 


THE  FIERY  FURNACE.  135 

'Mid  mightiest  peers,  and  pontiffs  dread,  unawed  they  stand 
serene, 

Xor  bow  the  head,  nor  droop  the  eye,  nor  change  their  stead- 
fast mien. 

IX. 

In  wrath  then  spake  the  monarch  :  "  My  gods  dare  ye  despise  ? 

And  flout  my  summons  thus  before  an  empire's  gazing  eyes  ? 

Perchance  ye  erred, — I    know   your  worth  !     When  next  the 
anthems  swell 

Bow  down,  I'll  pardon  your  rash  youth  ;  so  all  shall  yet   be 

well. 

X. 

"  But  if  ye  bow  not  prostrate,  nor  own  my  gods  ordained, 

In  yonder  blazing  furnace  I'll  cast  ye,  bound  and  chained  ; 

Then  what  god  of  the  nations  shall  save  you  from  my  hand  ? 

Be  warned  !    Trust  not  to  Him  ye  served  in  Judah's  conquered 

land  !" 

XI. 

Then  calm,  and  clear,  and  dauntless,  outspake  the  youthful 

three  : 
"  Most  gracious  Liege,  we  need  no  thought  to  frame  our  word 

for  thee  ; 
If  such  our  lot  that  'mid  yon  flames  we  be  this  moment  cast, 
Our  God  can  save,  if  such  his  will  ;  we'll  trust  him  to  the  last. 

XII. 

"  If  not  his  will  to  save  us,  e'en  so  his  will  is  good  ; 
But  know,   O  king,  that  saved  or  burned,  we  will  not  serve 
thy  god  ; 


136  THE   FIERY  FURNACE. 

Thy  honors  past  with  thanks  we  own,  with  thanks,  too,  we 

resign  ; 
Life's  supreme  hour  mocks  earthly  power  ;  here  we  are  God's, 

not  thine  !" 

XIII. 

Then  red  with  speechless  fury  the  tyrant's  visage  burned, 
And  from  the  faithful  three  his  face — the  seal  of  doom — he 

turned  ! 
"  Ho  !    Heat  yon  furnace  hotter  seven  times  than  e'er  before  !" 
'Tis  done,  till  bursting  to  the  sky  the  mad  flames   belch  and 

roar  ! 

XIV. 
"  Ho  !   bring  the   mightiest  of  my  host,  this   brazen   three   to 

bind, 
And  hurl  them  where  the   scorching  flames   shall   tame   their 

towering  mind  ! 
Braved  to  my  face  !    So  realms  shall  learn   to   tremble  at  my 

nod, 
Nor  fools  invoke  that  vengeful  stroke  that  brooks  nor  man  nor 

god  !" 

XV. 
So  raved  the  worm  !     His  mightiest  lords   obey   the   sentence 

dire, 
The  unresisting  three  fall  bound  amid  the  torrid  fire  ! 
So  fierce  the  flame  its  instant  scath  th'  unwilling  sheriffs  slew; 
When    lo  !    astonishment   o'erspread    the    monarch's    face    to 

view  ! 


THE   FIERY  FURXACE.  137 

XVI. 

L'p  from  his  throne  in  haste  he  sprang,  with  fixed  and  awe- 
struck gaze, 

"  Did  we  not  cast  three  men,  in  chains,  'mid  yon  devouring 
blaze  ? 

But  lo  !  four  forms  walk  loose,  unhurt,  as  though  at  ease 
they  trod 

The   powerless   flames,  and  that  fourth  form    shines  glorious 

as  a  god  !" 

XVII. 

For  there  amid  the  raging  heat  God's  Covenant  Angel  came, 
And   from   the   oven's  roaring  vault  smote   out   the  blasting 

flame  ; 
And  now  a  cool  and  whistling  wind  like  evening  round  them 

plays. 
While  wide  around  their  songs  resound,  their  shouts  of  joy 

and  praise  ! 

XVIII. 

No  more   the  monarch's  pride  rebels,  nor  mightiest  lords  he 

sends ; 
On  royal  feet,  with  footsteps   fleei,  in   gladness  he   descends  ; 
Before  the  furnace's  mouth  he  stands,  while  wondering  nations 

see  : — 
"  Ho  !  ye  who    serve  the  Lord   Most  High,  come  forth,  and 

come  to  me  !" 

XIX. 

Xow  forth  from  out  those  roaring  flames  God's  joyful  ser- 
vants Come, 


138  THE   FIERY  FURNACE. 

With  heavenly  grace  on  every  face,  while  earth  and  hell  stand 

dumb  ! 
And  princes,  pontiffs,  potentates,  the  jury  of  the  world, 
Attest    them   scathless  !     Not    a    hair    is    singed,   a    vestment 

curled  ! 

XX. 

Then  cried   the  conquered  conqueror,  with   hands  to  heav'n 

upraised  : — 
"  The  God  of  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abed-nego  be  praised  ! 
Who  saved  his  saints  who  trusted  him,  and  dared  their  king 

defy, 
That  they  might  serve  their  God  alone,  for  him  might  live,  or 

die  ! 

XXI. 

"  Hear  now,  ye  nations,  our  decree.     We  own,  till  life  shall 

end, 
The  God  of  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abed-nego,  our  Friend. 
His  holy  name  let  none  blaspheme,  but  all  his  power  revere  ; 
That  God  can   save  beyond  the  grave,  who  thus  can   rescue 

here." 

XXII. 

Then    mighty    Babylon     rejoiced,    and     hailed     the    glorious 

band 
Who  braved   for   right  an   empire's   might,  and   changed   the 

king's  command  ; 
And  royal  favor  crowned  their  worth,  and  wealth,  and  length 

of  days  ; 
For  honors  won  by  right  well  done  both  men  and  angels  praise. 


THE   SCOURGIXG   OF  HELIODORUS.  139 

XXIII. 

Lord,  when  we  stand,  at  thy  command,  to  face  earth's  wrath 

or  shame, 
To  dare  its  dangerous  flatteries,  or  persecuting  flame. 
Alike  in  all  on  thee  we'll  call  for  grace  this  truth  to  spy  : — 
When  life  is  death,  then  death  is  life,  and  blest  are  they  ii.<ho  die  ! 


THE  SCOURGIXG  OF  HELIODORUS. 

[Second  Book  of  Maccabees,  chapter  3.] 
I. 

The  Grecian  kings  of  Syria,  the  proud  Seleucid  stock, 

Filled  Alexander's  Asian  throne  in  glorious  Antioch  ; 

From    Hellas's    isles    to    India's    streams   their   banners,  wide 

unfurled, 

From  Scythian  wastes  to  Persian  seas,  waved  o'er  the  Orient 

world. 

II. 

And  Palestina,  subject  long  beneath  their  conquering  sway. 

Though  ravaged   oft,  now  throve    in    peace   through   many  a 

prosperous  day, 

While  good  Onias,  wise  and  just,  ruled  in  Jerusalem, 

Where  Aaron's  mitre  long  survived  great  David's  diadem. 

III. 

There  mighty  Cyrus,  far  revered,  a  name  almost  divine. 
Inspired  by  Heaven  had  reared  once  more  Jehovah's  hallowed 
shrine  ; 


140  THE    SCOURGING    OF  HEII0D0RUS. 

And   Gentile  kings  from   far-off  lands  had  crowned  that  holy 

lane 
With  gifts  untold,  and  there  asked  peace  and  blessings  on  their 

reign. 

IV. 

All  tributes  paid,  still  gifts  o'erflowed  ;  and  sumless  treasures 

rare, 
The  wealth   of  merchants,  princes,  realms,  sought   sanctuary 

there  ; 
The  maiden's  dower,  the  orphan's  share,  the  widow's  portion 

sure, 
There  slept  inviolate,  with  tithes  that  fed  the  nation's  poor. 

V. 

But  graceless  Simon,  sworn  to  guard  that  treasury  divine, 
'Gainst  just  Onias  stirred  with  rage  and  envy  most  malign, 
To  heathen  foes  that  trust  betrayed,  in  infamy  untold, 
And  moved  the  Syrian  tyrant's  greed    to  grasp  the  hallowed 

gold. 

VI. 
Then    King    Seleucus    sent    with    guile    the    warder    of    his 

hoard, 
Bold  Heliodorus,  charged  to  rob  the  temple  of  the  Lord  : 
Through    Ccelosyria's    subject    towns,  Phoenicia's    conquered 

powers, 
In    well-feigned    state   he    strays,  then   speeds    to  Zion's  holy 

towers. 


THE    SCOUKGIXG   OF  HELIODORUS.  141 

VII. 
Ah,  who  can  tell  what  pall-like  woe  hung  Salem's  city  o'er. 
As  Heliodorus'  dire  demand  was  told  from  door  to  door  ! 
From  street  to  street  a  doleful  cry  of  anguish  rent  the  air — 
Ten  thousand  stretched  their  hands  to  heaven,  ten   thousand 
bowed  in  prayer. 

VIII. 

Fair   women,  girt  with  sackcloth   harsh  beneath    their  tender 

breasts, 
Wailed   through   the  town,  and  virgins  moaned,  and  tore  their 

snowy  vests  ; 
The    full-robed     Levites,    prostrate    low,   before    God's    altar 

lay, 
And  cried  :   "  Jehovah.,  guard    thine   own  !     Defend  thy  cause 

this  day  !" 

IX. 

But   ah,  that    good    and   great   high-priest  !    'Twas  fearful   to 

behold 
What  speechless  agony  of  prayer  his  ghastly  visage  told  ! 
What  grief,  what  shame,  for  orphans  robbed,  for  God's  pure 

shrine  profaned — 
Yet  on  his  mournful,  awful  face  a  startling  brightness  reigned  ! 

X. 

But  Heliodorus,  eager,  rash,  that  ruthless  mandate  urged. 
And    trod    Jehovah's    hallowed    courts    in    Gentile    guilt,  un- 

purged  ; 
His  bandit  guard  around  him  stood,  the  sacrilege  began, 


142  THE   SCOURGING   OF  HELIODORUS. 

When  lo  !  God's  instant  glory  blazed,  to  whelm  the  pride  of 
man  ! 

XI. 

Forth    rushed,  caparisoned    most    fair,  a  steed    of    dazzling 

mould, 
Who  bore  a  rider  terrible,  complete  in  harnessed  gold  ! 
And  fierce  with  hoofs  all  shod  with  fire  he  smote  the  impious 

foe  ; 
His  breath    was  flame  !     His  eyes    like    coals  !    His    mane    a 

meteor's  glow  ! 

XII. 

And  two  celestial  youths  stood  there,  in  robes  of  lustrous  white, 

Glorious  in  beauty,  excellent  in  majesty  and  might. 

And  swift  with  rods  of  baleful  gleam,  while  quaking  Antioch 

saw, 
They  scourged,  with  sore  and  vengeful  strokes,  the  scorner  of 

God's  law  ! 

XIII. 

Down  Heliodorus  fell,  amain,  in  dark  and  deathlike  swoon, 

As  fell  proud  Saul,  when  Christ  from  heaven  outflashed  the 
summer  noon  ! 

Fainting  with  awe  they  bore  him  forth  from  that  thrice  dire- 
ful place. 

Then  flew  to   God's   high-priest   to    crave  incensed  Jehovah's 

grace. 

XIV. 

The  dread  saint  prays — the  Gentile  lives,  and  hies  him  to  his 
lord  ; 


THE   SCOURGING   OF  HELIODORUS.  1 43 

He  tells  the.  glorious  power  of  Him  on  Zion's  height  adored  ; 
The  king,  enraged,  asks  :    "  Whom,  once  more,  whom  braver, 

shall  I  send  ?" 
"  Thy  foes,  O  king,"  the  stern  reply,  "  their  madness  thus  shall 

end  !" 

XV. 

Ah,  ye  who  grasp  at  others'  wealth,  nor  dread  Heaven's  right- 
eous wrath  ; 

Whose  hordes,  like  locust  bands,  devour  the  poor  with  wasting 
scath  ; 

Who    rule    for    gain,  whose  law    is  self,  whose  god  is   sordid 
gold; 

Whose  sway   is   outrage   legalized  ;  shame,  conscience,   man- 
hood sold  ; 

XVI. 

Woe  !  woe  !  to  all  your  pirate  crew  !    Wolves,  vultures  of  your 

race  ! 
Plagues,  pests,  and  vermin    of  mankind,   whate'er  your  pride 

and  place  ; 
Be   warned  !     Beware  !    crime's   longest    day   must    end,  and 

judgment  come  ; 
Haste  !  Justice  whets   th'  avenging  sword,  and    Mercy's   lips 

grow  dumb  ! 


THE   WORLD-WIDE  ■    HOPE. 

"  Will  it  be  morning  soon  ?" —  the  world  is  sad  ; 
When  will  the  morning  come,  and  make  it  glad  ? — 
"  Will  it  be  morning  soon  ?"  ask  hearts  that  pray, 
And  toil,  and  wait,  for  some  great,  brighter  day  ; — 
"  Will  it  be  morning  soon  ?"    the  ages  cry, 
As,  one  by  one,  earth's  eras  wander  by  ; — 
"When  will  the  earth-night  break,  the  heaven-sun  shine, 
With  dawn,  and  day,  and  deep,  full  noon,  divine  ?" — 

"  Will  it  be  morning  soon  ?"  O,  soul  of  man  ; 
Since  the  sad  flight  of  long,  long  years  began, 
How  oft,  how  echoless,  that  nameless  prayer 
Has  wandered,  voiceless,  on  the  waste  of  air, 
While  hearts,  rich  fraught  with  longing,  waiting  trust, 
Sank  cold  to  silence,  and  grew  still  in  dust  ! 

"  Will  it  be  morning  soon  ?"     Since  that  sad  night 
Whose  shadow  fell  on  Eden's  rosy  light  ; 
When  Sin  bore  Death  and  Sorrow  at  one  birth — 


1  The  title  of  this  poem  is  designed  to  express  that  universal  expectation 
of  a  coming  Deliverer  and  a  future  better  age,  in  this  or  some  other  state  of 
existence,  which  is  found  in  all  the  prominent  religious  systems  of  the  Gen- 
tile world,  and  which  is  no  doubt  a  traditionary  remnant  of  the  Eden  record 
and  of  the  great  Eden  promise  of  Genesis  3  :  15. 


THE    WORLD-WIDE   HOPE.  145 

The  death  of  purity,  and  blight  of  earth  ; 
The  dear,  dear  memories  of  that  primal  morn 
Have  hung,  like  angels,  o'er  the  race  forlorn  ; 
And  vague  bright  dreams  of  rapture  yet  to  be, 
Like  sunbeams  trembling  down  the  sunless  sea, 
Have  gleamed,  prophetic  of  that  longed-for  time, 
On  gifted  souls  of  every  age  and  clime. 

'Tis  the  great  hope  of  all  the  general  race, 
Unchilled  through  time,  uncircumscribed  by  space  ; 
Confused,  yet  vital,  through  all  creeds  and  songs, 
The  vision  of  all  teachings,  times,  and  tongues. 

The  child  of  Brahma  '  mourns,  by  Gunga's  a  wave, 
That  Brahma  comes  not  to  avenge  and  save  : 
Three  thousand  years  too  iong  has  Brahma  stayed  ; 
The  Vedas  void,  the  Shastras  all  gainsaid  ; 
Greek,  Roman,  Tartar,  Mongol,  Briton,  spoil, 
Age  after  age,  earth's  oldest,  brightest  soil  ; 
Yet  Brahma  lingers  in  some  sphere  above, 
Creating,  warring,  or  dissolved  in  love  ; 
Changeless  through  forms  innumerous,  conquering  flies. 
Forgets  the  world,  and  revels  round  the  skies. 

1  In  the  Brahminical  system — the  older  portions  of  which  form  without 
doubt  the  oldest  systematic  Gentile  religion  now  extant — there  have  been 
numerous  avatars  or  incarnations  of  Brahma,  and  another  is  yet  expected, 
in  which  wrong  and  evil  are  to  be  banished  from  the  world,  and  eternal 
blessedness  is  to  begin.  Material  for  reference  is  too  abundant  to  need 
mention. 

-  Gunga,.the  sacred  river  Ganges,  personified  as  a  goddess. 


146  THE    WORLD-WIDE   HOPE. 

The  Buddhist  '  seer,  from  Sakyamuni's  line, 
Still  fondly  dreams  Gautama  was  divine  ; 
Longs  for  the  far-off  time  that  brings  once  more 
Incarnate  Boodh,  to  ransom  and  restore  ; 
And  toils  with  studious,  life-long,  watchful  woes, 
To  earn  Nirvana's  passionless  repose, 
Where  transmigration  with  existence  ends, 
And  each  Enlightened  soul  with  Buddha  blends. 

Prometheus,2  bound,  still  braves  the  wrath  of  Jove, 
And  bleeds  for  man,  with  death-defying  love  ; 
Derides  the  Thunderer's  ineffective  rage, 
And  saves  mankind  for  some  propitious  age  ; 
An  age  that  swept,  prophetic,  on  the  soul 
Of  him  whose  virtues  won  the  Hemlock8  bowl, 

1  The  Buddhist  system  was  a  revolt,  a  heresy,  or  originally  a  reform, 
from  Brahminism.  It  was  originated  at  Kapilavastu,  near  the  sacred  city 
of  Benares,  between  five  and  six  hundred  years  before  Christ,  by  the  Prince 
Siddartha,  who  became  the  last  incarnation  of  Buddha.  He  was  the  son  of 
Suddhodana,  the  Rajah  of  Kapilavastu,  of  the  Sakya  clan  (whence  his  title 
Sakyamuni),  a  branch  of  the  great  Gautama  stock,  whence  his  name  Gautama 
is  the  great  eponymic  surname  of  his  race.  He  died  at  Kusingara,  in  the  king- 
dom of  Oudh,  B.C.  543,  aged  eighty  years.  Nirvana  is  the  Boodhist  heaven,  an 
actionless  and  passionless  existence,  of  merely  negative  attributes,  so  closely 
akin  in  conception  to  non-existence  as  to  amount  practically  to  atheism  and  an- 
nihilation. See  cyclopaedias  and  special  treatises,  especially  Otto  and  Ristner's 
"  Buddha  and  his  Doctrines,"  Triibner  &  Co.,  London,  1869.  The  canonical 
books  of  southern  Buddhism  are  about  twice  the  volume  of  the  Bible. 

2  The  Prometheus  legend  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  classical 
polytheism,  and  one  of  the  most  important,  theologically,  as  being  the  one 
most  clearly  representing  the  Messianic  tradition  in  its  classical  form.  See 
Keightley's  Mythology,  classical  dictionaries,  and  cyclopaedias. 

3  Socrates,  who  was  condemned  to  drink  the  Hemlock. 


THE    WORLD-WTDE   HOPE.  147 

And  winged  the  Attic  bird  '  to  heights  sublime, 
That  still  o'ertop  the  toiling  march  of  time. 

Scandinia's  Skalds  2  erst  sang  the  woe-fraught  hour 
When  Baldur  fell,  by  Loke's  baneful  power  ; 
When  virtue  died,  and  Woden,  Freia,  Thor, — 
Valhalla's  gods  of  wassail  and  of  war — 
Usurped  the  world.     But,  though  Yggdrasil's  height 
Towers  through  three  heavens,  and  waves  in  utmost  light, 
A  shattering  shock  shall  blight  its  shuddering  shade, 
Its  fountains  fail,  its  flowery  foliage  fade  ; 
Existence,  wrecked,  resolve  in  misty  floods, 
And  chaos  reign,  the  Twilight  of  the  gods. 
Then  shall  the  saga's  mystic  lore  be  plain, 
And  Baldur  live,  and  build  the  world  again  ; 
Sin  be  no  more,  and  good  men,  snatched  from  night, 
With  Baldur  dwell  in  Gimle's  golden  light. 

1  "  The  olive  grove  of  Academe, 
Plato's  retirement,  where  the  Attic  bird 
Trills  her  thick-warbled  notes  the  summer  long." 

— Milton,  "  Paradise  Regained,"  Bk.  iv.,  line  244. 
2  In  the  Scandinavian  or  Gothic-Teutonic  mythology,  Baldur,  the  god  of 
good,  is  slain  by  Loke,  the  god  of  evil,  and  the  Valhalla  gods  come  in.  But 
they  are  to  be  overthrown  ;  the  great  ash  tree  of  existence,  the  living  uni- 
verse, Yggdrasil,  is  to  wither  and  perish  ;  and  gods  and  men  with  it.  Then 
Baldur  is  to  have  a  resurrection,  and  the  universe  is  to  be  restored  as  an 
eternal  heaven.  This  is  another  of  the  most  striking  of  all  Gentile  forms  of 
the  Eden  and  Messianic  traditions  combined,  symbolizing  the  fall  and  moral 
decay  of  man  effected  by  evil  powers,  and  his  redemption,  the  new  creation, 
and  eternal  blessedness.  But  it  confounds  the  fall  of  man  with  the  death  of 
the  redeemer  for  man,  in  the  death  of  Baldur. 


148  THE    WORLD-WIDE  HOPE. 

The  Shaman  l  faith,  that  rules  the  Arctic  land 
From  Norway's  cape  to  Behring's  far-off  strand, — 
That  first  the  mighty  Mongol's  flag  unfurled, 
And  hurled  tremendous  Jenghis  on  the  world, — 
Still  waits  for  Radien's  coming,  swift  and  bright, 
From  softer  seas  whence  springs  the  boreal  light, 
To  stretch  the  sceptre  of  his  cheering  reign 
From  Bothnia's  streams,  o'er  all  the  Tundra  plain, 
And  bring  the  transient,  wandering  sun,  to  pour 
On  bleak  Siberia  summer,  evermore. 

The  nomad  Tartar  a  waits  for  Heaven's  great  Khan 
To  purge  the  world,  and  right  the  wrongs  of  man  ; 
Beholds  his  comet  steeds  that  sweep  the  sky 
With  manes  of  fire,  to  bring  deliverance  nigh  ; 
And  dreams  on  Gobi's  waste  and  boundless  sands, 
Of  that  great  oasis,  Eden  of  all  lands, 

1  Shamanism,  the  religion  of  all  the  Pagan  Mongol  and  Tartar  trihes  of 
northern  Asia,  is  one  of  the  oldest  primitive  Pagan  religions  of  the  world,  a 
nature-worship  and  devil-worship,  yet  having  the  great  monotheistic  concep- 
tion lying  inert  at  its  base,  with  a  prophecy  that  a  great  and  beneficent  spirit 
shall  one  day  come  to  deliver  the  world  from  the  dominion  of  the  demons 
men  are  now  compelled  to  worship.  He  is  to  appear  from  the  north,  on 
the  beams  of  the  aurora  borealis,  and  bring  with  him  the  warmer  climate,  in 
search  of  which  Arctic  animal  life  migrates  northward  in  winter. 

2  The  non-Mongol  Tartar  religions  lose  the  Arctic  ideas  and  assume  those 
of  the  desert  steppe  and  oasis,  with  a  strong  tinge  from  Lamai'sm,  which  is 
the  paganized  form  of  Boodhism,  as  Romanism  is  the  paganized  form  'of 
Christianity.  Naturally  to  the  desert  life  of  the  Tartar  the  horse  (which  was 
probably  there  first  domesticated)  is  the  sacred  animal,  instead  of  the  cow, 
as  in  India,  and  the  horse-flesh  feast,  as  among  the  ancient  Scandinavians 
(who  were  probably  of  the  same  race),  is  their  highest  religious  ceremony. 


THE    WORLD-WIDE   HOPE.  149 

Once  by  glad  feet  of  sinless  mortals  trod, 

When  time  was  young,  and  earth  was  near  to  God. 

Tezcuco's  '  altar,  like  th'  Athenians',  stood 
Sacred  to  one  all-causing,  Unknown  God, 
Whose  monarch-bard  in  song's  sweet  numbers  told 
What  bright  revolving  ages  should  unfold, 
When  Mexic's  clime  should  know  and  bless  the  reign 
Of  Him  the  visioned  prophet  sought  in  vain. 

Cholula2  mourned  when  Ouetzalcoatl  divine, 
Beloved,  but  wronged,  forsook  his  conquered  shrine  ; 

1  Tezcuco,  the  capital  of  the  Acolhua  nation,  was  the  centre  of  a  peaceful 
and  highly  cultured  civilization  and  religion  in  the  Valley  of  Anahuac,  be- 
fore the  founding  of  Mexico  there  by  the  savage,  conquering  Aztecs  in  a.d. 
1325.  Its  poet-king,  Xezhualcoyotl,  built  a  nine-storied  temple,  with  a 
starry  roof  representing  the  firmament,  in  honor  of  the  invisible  deity 
called  Tloquenahuaque,  ''he  who  is  all  in  himself,"  or  Ipalnemoan,  "  he  by 
whom  we  live,"  expressions  of  infinity'  and  self-existence  foreign  to  the 
Pagan  world,  and  surprisingly  like  true  revelation.  In  this  temple,  and  in 
the  system  of  religion  to  which  it  belonged,  the  horrible  human  sacrifices  of 
the  Aztecs  were  unknown.  The  worship  consisted  of  songs,  prayers,  incense, 
and  flowers.  This  form  of  religion  was,  however,  little  known  to  the  masses 
of  the  people,  and  bears  marks  of  having  been  a  missionary  religion  from 
the  Old  World,  and  probably  descended  from  the  patriarchal  religion  of  the 
Old  Testament,  perhaps  from  Christianity  itself.  (For  this  and  the  follow- 
ing note  see  Bancroft's  "  Native  Races,"  etc.,  Tylor's  "  Anahuac  or  Mexico," 
and  Cyc.  Brit.,  ninth  edition,  article  Mexico.) 

8  Cholula  was  the  centre  of  another  Mexican  religion,  probably  more 
ancient  than  that  of  Tezcuco,  and  founded  by  that  mysterious  personage, 
Quetzalcoatl,  who  was  undoubtedly  a  deified  white  missionary  from  Europe. 
He  was  taller  than  the  natives  (as  the  whites  are),  with  white  skin,  European 
features,  hair  and  long  beard,  both  black  (the  natives  are  brown  and  beardless), 
long  flowing  robes,  and  came  among  them  from  a  foreign  country,  to  which 


150  THE    WORLD-WIDE  HOPE. 

Left  the  bright  Anahuac  he  could  not  save, 
And  launched,  lamented,  o'er  th'  Atlantic  wave. 
Birds,  breezes,  blossoms,  drooped  for  Aztec  Pan, 
And  maize  fields  sighed  soft  sympathy  with  man. 
Long  grew  the  ages,  but  his  pledged  return 
The  Aztec  saw  where  morn's  bright  splendors  burn, 
And  hailed  his  advent  when  the  Spaniard  came — 
But  found  his  god  a  fiend  of  blood  and  flame  ! 

Once  Hiawatha  !  came,  but  comes  no  more, 
From  far  Superior's  pictured,  sunset  shore, 
To  teach  the  hunter  how  to  bend  his  bow, 
The  angler  where  the  sturgeon  waits  below  ; 
To  clear  the  streams,  to  tame  the  savage  wild, 
And  train  to  peacful  arts  the  forest's  child. 

he  returned  by  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  He  appeared  among  the  Toltec  nation, 
the  first  and  most  highly  civilized  and  most  important  of  all  the  Nahua  peo- 
ples. They  probably  excelled  in  the  arts  every  nation  in  Europe  except 
Moorish  Spain  and  Italy  in  the  ages  in  which  they  lived.  He  spent  twenty 
years  teaching  them  peace  and  virtue,  a  mild  religion  with  only  bread, 
flowers,  and  perfumes  for  its  sacrifices,  and  also  picture  writing,  the  calen- 
dar, and  silver-smithing,  which  long  flourished  at  Cholula,  the  Toltec  capi- 
tal. When  he  departed  he  told  the  Cholulans  that  in  future  ages  his 
brethren,  white  and  bearded  men  like  himself,  should  come  from  over  the 
sea,  where  the  sun  rises,  and  rule  their  country.  The  great  pyramid  of 
Cholula,  with  its  hemispherical  temple  of  Quetzalcoatl  on  the  summit,  was 
twice  as  long  and  high  as  the  great  teoclli  of  the  sun  at  Mexico,  and  many  ages 
must  have  elapsed  to  bring  it,  in  that  dry  climate,  to  its  present  state  of  ruin. 
1  The  Hiawatha  myth  among  the  American  Indians  needs  no  other  com- 
mentary than  Longfellow's  poem  upon  it  ;  or  rather  than  what  the  poem 
might  and  would  have  been,  had  its  scholarly  and  genial  author  selected  a 
stronger  and  more  commanding  form  of  versification  for  the  finest  Indian 
legend  of  America. 


THE    WORLD-WIDE   HOPE.  151 

What  means  this  golden,  universal  dream, 
Dower  of  the  world  ? — Comes  there  no  radiant  beam 
From  brighter  spheres,  through  prophet,  bard,  or  sage, 
To  explain  this  world-hope  of  some  happier  age  ? 

'Tis  Heaven's  great  promise,  written  on  the  race, 
That  man  shall  yet  regain  his  primal  place  ! 
Some  great  uplifting,  yet,  earth's  years  must  bring, 
Or  hope  is  vain,  and  faith  a  fruitless  thing. 
Man,  universal,   feels  and  mourns  his  fall, 
His  blight,  his  ruin,  though  he  knows  not  all  ; 
But  from  the  garden  and  the  ark  he  bore 
Heaven's  pledge  and  promise  to  earth's  wildest  shore  : 
Though  dark  its  purport,  and  obscurer  grown, 
Perplexed,  distorted,  shadowy,  and  unknown, 
Mixed  with  strange  dreams,  and  monstrous  rites  abhorred, 
So  all  unlike  Heaven's  holy,  loving  Lord, 
Yet,  sires  to  sons,  and  seers,  and  minstrels  hoar, 
Still  told,  and  saw,  and  sung,  the  mystic  lore, 
And  Hope,  in  doubt,  like  a  blind  angel  lost, 
Through  error's  chaos  groped  for  Heaven's  bright  coast" 

Will  it  be  morning,  soon  ?     O  sage  !  O  seer  ! 
O  Watchman  !     Tell  us  is  the  morning  near  ? 
Our  hearts  grew  weary  with  the  long,  long  night, 
And  break  with  sighing  for  the  sweet,  sweet  light  ! 
O  watchers  on  the  mountain-tops  of  time, 
Where  all  the  hopes  of  all  the  ages  climb, 


52  THE    WORLD-WIDE   HOPE. 

Say  if  not  'round  those  heavenward  summits  play 
The  purpling  tints  of  near  and  hastening  day  ? 

Will  it  be  morning,  soon  ?     What  means  this  stir, 
Like  that  which  wakes  some  giant  slumberer, 
A  slow  and  gradual  rousing,  strong  and  deep, 
As  the  great  world  shakes  off  its  time-long  sleep  ! 

Tis  God's  almighty,  all-awakening  voice, 
That  bids  the  race  look  upward  and  rejoice  ! 
Startling  the  nations  with  its  quickening  call, 
It  swells  and  deepens  'round  this  echoing  ball, 
Flies  on  all  winds,  and  loads  with  every  breeze, 
The  multitudinous  thunder  of  the  seas, 
And  fills  the  world's  great  dithyramb  sublime, 
Like  the  grand  march  of  long,  resounding  rhyme. 

The  world  is  waking  !     Eighteen  hundred  years 
Roll  back  in  vista,  and  the  hour  appears 
When  down  the  dimness  of  earth's  gloom  forlorn, 
From  opening  skies,  broke  in  the  first,  clear  morn  ; 
And  though  ten  centuries  swept,  in  cloudy  night, 
Between  men's  eyes,  and  that  long-looked-for  light, 
The  sun  still  shone,  and  when  his  mounting  ray 
Dissolved  the  shadows  ;  lo,  the  night  was  day  ! 

Will  it  be  morning  soon  ?     O,  waiting  race, 
Take  heart  !     Look  up  !     The  darkness  flies  apace  ! 
The  blood-red  dawn,  with  fagot,  sword  and  flame, 
Faded,  as  sunrise  near  and  nearer  came  ; 


THE   WORLD-WIDE   HOPE.  153 

The  morn  is  here  !     Truth's  sun  rides  warm  and  high, 

In  kindling  splendor,  up  the  opening  sky  ; 

Bright  from  that  burning  sphere,  with  broadening  beams, 

Light  flows  and  flashes  in  a  thousand  streams, 

And  glad-eyed  angels,  in  man's  bliss  to  share, 

Bend  in  bright  ranks  from  all  the  hymnful  air. 

Up  !   Brothers,  up  !     Earth's  twilight  dreams  are  done. 
And  Truth's  great,  final  work-day  is  begun  ! 
Up  !  Brothers,  up  !  and  join  the  glorious  strife, 
Where  man  is  struggling  toward  a  loftier  life  ! 
Deep  through  earth's  yearning,  universal  heart, 
New  hopes,  new  energies,  new  being  start  ; 
Old  bondage  breaks,  old  chains  are  rent  and  riven, 
Freedom  from  all  her  mountains  shouts  to  Heaven  ; 
False  creeds  are  crumbling  ;  man's  first  faith  and  best, 
The  source  of  all  the  good  in  all  the  rest, 
The  pure,  the  bright,  the  heavenly,  and  the  true, 
Eternal,  vital,  and  for  ever  new, 
This,  this,  instinct  with  impulse  from  above, 
Goes  conquering  on,  to  rule  the  world  by  love  ! 

Up  !   Brothers,  up  !  and  in  this  glad  employ, 
Go  forth  for  God,  and  sow  the  world  with  joy  ! 
Wind  of  the  Spirit  blow  o'er  every  land  ! 
Sea  of  the  glory  break  on  every  strand  ! 
Hope  of  the  ages,  haste  all  climes  to  cheer  ! 
Hearts  of  the  nations  ;  lo,  the  morn  is  here  ! 


THE    INCARNATION. 

Part  First.     A  Christmas  Carol. 

[Luke,  chapter  2.] 

I. 

THE    EXPECTATION. 

A  spell  lay  on  the  world.     The  time  had  come, 
By  Judah's  seers  and  bards  so  long  foretold, 
When  that  mysterious  promise,  whereon  hung 
The  endless  destiny  of  all  man's  race — 
First  made  in  Eden,  that  the  woman's  seed 
Should  bruise  the  serpent's  head — must  be  fulfilled. 
Four  thousand  times  and  more  this  spinning  globe 
Had  wheeled  her  measured  circuit  through  the  sky, 
And  on  her  latest  compass  now  drew  near, 
With  joyful  speed,  to  the  momentous  goal. 

Tradition,  from  old  time,  with  mystic  awe 
Had  spread  her  Eden-lore  through  every  clime, 
Blent  with  vain  dreams,  by  demon  rites  profaned, 
Perverted,  yet  portending  good  to  man. 
The  dusky  Hindu  looked  for  Brahma's  wheels 
Once  more  to  flame  in  India's  sunset  sky, 
Restoring  earth,  her  rounded  cycles  filled. 
The  roving  Tartar,  on  his  boundless  plains, 


THE  INCARNATION,  155 

Watched  for  the  Khan  of  Heaven,  whose  comet  steeds, 

With  manes  of  fire,  should  sweep  a  conquered  world. 

The  Persian  Magi  saw,  with  thoughtful  joy, 

The  constellations  shaped  to  aspects  new, 

That  omened  undiscovered  bliss  to  earth. 

The  Sibyl,  blinking  from  her  cave,  beheld 

Strange  gods  and  heard  strange  mutterings  underground, 

That  oracled  Judea's  conquering  Lord. 

All  Syria  looked,  expectant,  for  a  hand 

From  Salem  stretched,  to  grasp  earth's  eldest  crowns 

And  blend  the  world's  wide  empires  into  one  ; 

And  seer-like  souls  caught  the  deep  throb  that  thrilled 

Through  silent  centuries  on  that  conscious  time. 

Dire  Janus  closed  his  gates  ;  some  mystic  power, 

In  every  tribe  and  realm,  unfelt  before, 

Whispered  through  all  the  world,  and  called  for  peace  ; 

Till  earth  her  wars  and  discords  laid  aside, 

And  meekly  waited  for  her  coming  Lord. 

The  era  is  complete,  the  epoch  dawns, 

And  through  the  dusk  of  prophecy  broad  beams, 

Effulgent  kindling,  speak  earth's  morning  nigh. 

II. 

THE    PREPARATIOX. 

The  Shiloh,  long  delayed,  draws  near  ; 

For  Zion's  sacred  seers  of  old 
Have  shown  where  soon  he  shall  appear, 

And  Bethlehem  is  the  spot  foretold — 


156  THE   INCARNATION. 

The  sent  of  David's  royal  line, 
Complete  in  David's  heir  divine. 

Now  Rome's  wide  sceptre  swayed  the  earth, 
And  tribute  claimed  from  every  land. 

Peoples  and  tribes  of  various  birth 

Were  marshalled  at  her  great  command  : 

So  Heaven's  deep  plan,  through  world-wide  powers, 

Brings  David's  seed  to  Bethlehem's  towers. 

Lo  !  now,  what  bands  of  pilgrims  wend 
O'er  many  a  road  their  toilsome  way  ? 

Toward  Ephrath's  gates  all  footsteps  tend, 
As  sunset  gilds  fate's  final  day  ; 

And  golden  beams,  through  gates  of  even, 

Bathe  domes  and  towers  in  hues  of  Heaven. 

Amid  the  gathering  thousands  now, 

Behold  a  pair  of  humble  mien. 
No  badge  of  royal  race  they  show, 

Amid  the  throng  they  pass  unseen. 
No  room  for  them  the  inn  can  spare, 
The  rich,  the  proud,  the  gay  are  there. 

The  cavern  stall  is  all  the  place 

That  shelters  from  the  chill  of  night 

The  maid,  most  honored  of  her  race, 
In  woman's  weakest,  proudest  plight, 

The  virgin  wife,  who  ere  next  morn 

Crowns  earth  with  God,  as  mortal  born. 


the  Incarnation.  157 

The  patient  oxen  eye  her  couch 

With  strange  brute  instinct's  homage,  dim  ; 
The  toiling  asses  silent  crouch, 

Xor  mar  the  lowly  vesper-hymn 
Which  floats  to  heaven,  one  trembling  strain, 
As  slumber  falls  o'er  town  and  plain. 

III. 

THE    INCARNATION. 

Lo  i  while  earth  in  silence  lies. 
Ope  the  portals  of  the  skies  ! 
Down  the  dusk  of  midnight  glooms 
Sounds  the  sweep  of  myriad  plumes  ! 
Shining  cohorts,  mailed  in  gold, 
Round  that  cave  their  vigil  hold. 

Rank  on  rank,  the  squadrons  bright 
Wheel  and  form  in  squares  of  light 
Grandest  names  on  heaven's  old  guard 
Here  to-night  keep  watch  and  ward  ; 
Lean  o'er  diamond  blades,  on  wings  : 
Reverent  wait  the  King  of  kings. 

Tenderest  hands  that  heaven  can  lend 
By  yon  glimmering  lamp  attend  ; 
Watch  the  anxious  hours  away 
Round  that  couch  of  fragrant  hay  ; 
Swift  with  ministries  divine, 
Sister  spirits  wait  the  sign. 


I§8  THE   INCARNATION. 

Hark  !    A  new-born  infant's  cry 
Thrills  through  hell,  and  earth,  and  sky  ! 
Hark  !  the  clash  of  shield  and  sword  ! 
Hark  !  the  shout  that  hails  him  Lord  ! 
Lord  of  earth,  and  hell,  and  heaven  ! 
God  in  man,  to  mortals  given  ! 

IV. 

THE     CELEBRATIOX. 

Hail  moment  blest  !     All  hail,  thou  Prince  and  Saviour  ! 

Infant  Redeemer  !     Everlasting  King  ! 
On  earth  good-will  toward  man,  and  peace  and  favor, 
Shout  heaven  and  earth,  and  let  the  echo  ring  ! 
Glory  !  Glory  !  Glory  !  Glory  ! 
Seraphs  catch  the  joyful  story  ! 
Where  the  silent  midnight  reigns 
Over  Judah's  peaceful  plains, 
And  shepherds  watch  with  pride 
Their  warm  flocks  slumbering  wide, 
With  rapturous  speed  they  fly. 
First  one  alone  draws  nigh, 
And  from  th'  illumined  sky, 
Forth  leaning  out  of  air, 
In  aspect  mild  and  fair, 
And  tones  of  kindliest  care 
He  calms  their  rising  fears, 
Proclaiming  in  their  ears, 
While  earth,  enraptured,  hears  : 


THE  INCARNATION.  159 

"  Glad  tidings  of  great  joy  I  bring  ! 
News  that  shall  make  all  people  sing  ! 
For  unto  you  is  born  a  King 
In  David's  town  this  night, 
The  Lord  of  glory  bright, 
The  Saviour,  earth's  delight, 
Messiah,  long-foretold, 
Th'  Anointed  One  of  old, 
The  Prince  of  Judah's  fold, 
Who  brings  earth's  age  of  gold." 
Instant  all  the  ether  swings 
With  the  billowy  rush  of  wings  ! 
Instant  all  the  air  around 
Leaps  and  throbs  with  rhythmic  sound  ! 
Million  smitten  strings  resound  ! 
Million  tongues  the  chorus  raise, 
Warbling,  gushing  gusts  of  praise  : 
"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest  !  Glory  ! 
Glory  to  God  !   Earth  echo  the  story  ! 
Peace  upon  earth,  good-will  to  man, 
As  it  was  at  the  first,  when  time  began  ! 
As  it  is,  when  God,  as  Immanuel  born, 
Descends  to  perish  for  man  forlorn  ! 
As  it  now,  henceforth  and  forever  shall  be  ! 
Amen,  and  amen,  to  eternity  ! 
To  Eternity  ! 
To  Eternity  ! 
Amen,  and  amen,  to  Eternity  !" 


160  THE   INCARNATION. 

Thus  praising  God  the  anthem  rang, 
As  all  the  choirs  celestial  sang  ; 
And  higher,  higher,  higher 
Seraphic  songs  aspire 
In  symphonies  of  fire, 
Till  every  golden  lyre, 
And  every  conscious  wire 
To  holiest  rapture  strung, 
And  every  flaming  tongue 
Unite  to  swell  the  song  ; 
And  all  earth's  tribes,  in  farthest  climes, 
Heard  sweetness  in  all  Nature's  chimes  ; 
And  all  the  planets  in  the  sky 
Stood  listening,  as  the  earth  rolled  by, 
Till  rapture  thrilled  through  space  afar, 
And  answers  flashed  from  star  to  star  ! 
And  still,  through  Judah's  vales 
That  anthem  swelled  the  gales, 
Till  every  mountain-height 
Responded  through  the  night, 
And  every  cliff  of  stone 
Sent  back  the  antiphone, 
The  lingering  echoes  long 
Enthralled  th'  entangled  song 
The  rocks  and  glades  among, 
And  rolled  the  rapturous  strain 
In  billows  to  the  plain, 
That  rolled  it  back  again, 
Until  the  sweet  refrain, 


THE  INCARNATION.  161 

Lured  in  romantic  dells, 

Prolonged  through  caverned  cells. 

With  one  last  cadence  swells 

Above  the  lonely  fells  ; 
Then  languishes  along  the  leas, 
And  mingles  with  the  midnight  breeze, 
That  whispers  peace  as  on  it  flees. 
And  bears  the  song  o'er  lands  and  seas. 

V. 

THE    MEDITATION". 

O  wondrous  song,  once  sung  for  all  the  ages, 

How,  evermore,  thy  burden  spreads  and  grows  ! 
How  the  long  line  of  poets,  seers,  and  sages 

All  swell  the  mighty  anthem  as  it  flows  ! 
And  crowned  kings  and  holy  martyrs  singing, 

'Mid  flames  and  torments,  tell  thy  conquering  power. 
And  children's  voices,  in  glad  chorals  ringing. 

Still  hail  the  rapture  of  that  deathless  hour  ! 

Time's  central  song  !      Earth's  singers  catch  thy  motion, 

And  tune  the  hymns  of  centuries  to  thy  sound  ; 
As  rivers  draw  their  fullness  from  the  ocean, 

And  pour  it  back,  in  one  unending  round. 
The  earth-born  chants  of  glory,  fame,  or  pleasure 

Expire  as  ages  roll,  nor  reach  Time's  shore  : 
But  songs'  that  catch  Heaven's  mighty  swing  and  measure 

Shall  sing  through  earth  and  Heaven  forevermore. 


1 62  THE   INCARNATION. 

Part  Second.     The  Magi. 

[Matthew  2  :  1-12.] 

I. 

THE    ARRIVAL. 

In  summer  sunset  stood  Jerusalem, 
Framed  round  with  mountains  like  a  well-set  gem, 
A  mighty  cameo  carved  on  Zion's  crest, 
All  bathed  in  glory  from  the  amber  west 
That  streamed  o'er  wall  and  gate,  o'er  tower  and  shrine, 
Till  earthly  temples  glowed  with  light  divine. 

Amid  that  splendor  of  departing  day, 
A  stately  caravan  ascends  the  way 
From  Kedron's  vale  to  Herod's  royal  gate, 
A  thoughtful  train,  that  moves  in  solemn  state, 
On  some  great  errand  bent  ; — the  portal's  passed  ; — 
Silence  and  twilight  wrap  the  world  at  last. 

II. 

THE    AUDIENCE. 

Lo,  in  3^onder  palace  hall, 
Waiting  stand  three  strangers  tall. 
Not  the  Arab,  lean  and  swart, 
Not  the  Hebrew,  stout  and  short, 
Not  the  Egyptian,  brown  and  mild, 
Not  the  Syrian,  strong  and  wild, 


THE   INCARNATION.  163 

Not  the  Greek,  with  auburn  hair, 

Not  the  Roman's  haughty  air, 

Not  the  Ethiop's  sun-burnt  face, 

Not  the  Scythian's  savage  race, 

In  the  monarch's  hall  are  seen. 

Men  of  calm,  majestic  mien, 

Clad  in  robes  of  mystic  white, 

Greet  Judea's  King  to-night — 

Greet  him  as  his  equals  born, 

All  too  great  for  slight  or  scorn. 

Seers  of  Persia's  ancient  clime, 

Here  they  stand,  in  port  sublime  ; 

Seers  from  Zoroaster  taught 

Through  two  thousand  years  of  thought,1 

Poring  deep  on  earth  and  sky, 

And  the  soul's  strange  mystery — 

Born  to  mount,  a  spark  of  fire,2 

Deathless  still  when  suns  expire  ! 

Sages  skilled  in  all  earth's  lore 

Gathered  through  the  centuries  hoar, 

Masters  of  the  Magian  line3 

1  The  date  of  Zoroaster  is  lost  in  the  obscurity  of  antiquity,  but  certainly 
goes  back  to  near  the  time  when  the  Eastern  Aryans  left  the  parent  seat  on  the 
upper  Oxus  and  became  the  conquerors  of  India,  in  round  numbers  nearer  to 
2000  b.  c.  than  1000  B.  c. 

2  The  Magian  sacred  fire  was  reputedly  brought  from  heaven  by  Zoroaster. 
It  was  a  symbol  of  God,  and  also  of  the  soul  which  came  from  and  would  re- 
turn to  him. 

3  Astrology  was  one  of  the  branches  of  theology  at  first,  and  astronomy 
should  never  forget  its  religious  origin. 


164  THE   INCARNATION. 

Versed  in  starry  fates  divine. 
Such  the  men  whose  search  for  God 
Now  the  heights  of  Salem  trod, 
Such  the  seers  whose  wondrous  tale 
Bids  the  astonished  tyrant  quail. 

III. 

THE    INQUIRY. 

"  O  King  of  Judah's  favored  land, 
Before  thy  throne  this  day  we  stand 
To  ask  where  dwells  that  child  whose  birth 
Fulfils  the  eldest  lore  of  earth,1 
To  greet  whose  reign  new  stars  arise, 
And  strange  conjunctions  mark  the  skies. 
For  twice  a  thousand  years  are  gone 
Since  spake  the  sage  of  hoar  Iran, 
Spitama,2  far  by  Oxus'  wave, 
That  one  should  come  the  world  to  save. 
For  Zerdusht,  sent  by  Ormazd,  said 
That  one  whose  power  would  wake  the  dead 
Should  rise  from  out  the  distant  West,3 
And  reign  through  ages  long  and  blest. 

1  Namely,  the  Eden-lore.  See  notes  on  the  poem  "  The  World-Wide  Hope," 
pp.  144-153,  for  much  light  on  this  poem. 

2  Spitama  was  the  family  name  of  Zarathrusta,  Zerdusht,  or  Zoroaster, 
and  he  is  seldom  mentioned  in  the  Avesta  without  the  use  of  this  name. 

8  The  Iranic  prophecies  after  Zoroaster  pointed  to  the  West,  and  to  the 
descendants  of  Abraham,  for  Zosiosh,  his  greatest  successor. — McClintock  and 
Strong,  article  "  Masi." 


THE   INCARNATION.  165 

And  fifteen  centuries  now  have  rolled 
Since  Aram's  seer  1  his  star  foretold, 
A  sceptred  star,-  with  beams  benign, 
From  Jacob's  seed  o'er  earth  to  shine. 
And  Judah's  captive  prince  and  sage  3 
Who  'scaped  unharmed  the  lions'  rage,4 
Who  read  th'  Assyrian's  dreams  profound,5 
And  swayed  great  Cyrus,  far-renowned,6 
Who  saved  Chaldea's  starmen  hoar,7 
And  taught  our  sires  profounder  lore,3 
He.  helped  of  favoring  heaven,  alone 
Of  mortal  men  the  years  made  known  ; 
Gifted  from  God  with  glance  divine, 
He  fasted,  prayed,  and  read  the  sign.9 
And  now,  the  years  fulfilled,  behold 
The  starry  sign  revealed  of  old  ! 
For,  as  we  passed  from  Zagros'  height 
To  Babel's  plain,  behold  by  night. 
The  star  of  war,10  the  star  of  peace,'1 
The  star  of  Jove  that  gives  increase, 

1  Balaam's  prophecies,  Xum.  23  :  7  ;  24  :  25  ;  especially  24  :  17. 

-  Ibid.  3  Daniel.     See  Dan.  1:6.  4  Ibid.  6  :  22. 

5  Ibid.  2  :  31  et  seq.;  4  :  19  et  seq.       6  Ibid.  1  :  21  ;  10  :   1.        :  Ibid.  2  :  24. 

b  Ibid.  2:  4S,  "chief  governor  over  all  the  wise  men  of  Babylon'' — i.e., 
Hebrew  Rab-Magi  Greek  Archimagos,  President  of  the  Magi,  who  were  of 
many  sects  and  orders.  As  president  he  was  their  chief  expounder,  and 
in  position  to  teach  them  the  correct  Hebrew  forms  of  the  Messianic  prophe- 
cies of  Zoroaster.     See  McClintock  and  Strong,  article  "Magi." 

I  Ibid.  9  and  10.  I0  Mars. 

II  Saturn,  in  conjunction  with  Jupiter.  See  Upham's  "Star  of  the  Wise 
Men." 


1 66  THE  INCARNATION. 

Beneath  that  arch  of  power  and  hope 

The  fiery  trigon's  horoscope,1 

Joined  thrice  their  threefold  splendor  grand 

Above  Judea's  favored  land  ! 

And  central  'mid  their  triune  blaze 

Burst  a  strange  orb,2  whose  dazzling  rays 

Proclaimed, — so  taught  Chaldea's  sees, — 

The  finished  round  of  fated  years, 

That  bring  th'  Anointed,  long  foretold, 

And  Earth's  far-cycling  Age  of  Gold.3 

And  when  the  grand  portent  we  saw 

Flashed  out  by  heaven's  unerring  law — 

Planets  and  constellations  blent 

In  that  resplendent  firmament — 

His  world-wide  sign  at  last  unfurled, 

Whose  world-old  promise  cheers  the  world  4 — 

We  bowed  beneath  that  splendor's  span, 

And  praised  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  man  ; 

We  sang  old  hymns  of  ancient  seers, 

The  hoary  songs 5  of  nameless  years, 

1  See  Upham's  "  Star  of  the  Wise  Men."  2  Ibid. 

3  The  Gentile  "  golden  age"  is  in  the  past,  a  lost  Eden  ;  that  of  the  Chris- 
tian is  in  the  future  Millennium,  an  Eden  recovered,  a  "  Paradise  Re- 
gained," as  sung  by  Milton  in  his  noble  poem,  which  would  have  been  con- 
sidered great,  had  not  "  Paradise  Lost"  been  greater.  But  a  Satanic  hero  will 
be  more  fascinating  to  the  world  than  a  divine  one  for  several  ages  to 
come. 

4  See  works  and  cyclopaedia  articles  on  Gentile  prophecy. 

5  Some  of  the  monotheistic  hymns  of  the  Vedas  and  of  the  Avesta  are 
among  the  oldest  fragments  of  human  thought  in  existence. 


THE  INCARNATION,  167 

Till,  dumb  for  joy,  we  gazed  and  wept — 

The  mighty,  world-old  promise  kept  ! 

No  more  the  wondering  East  could  hold 

Our  rapturous  thoughts  that  westward  rolled. 

The  desert  saw  our  midnight  march 

Still  lit  by  that  imperial  arch  ; 

The  toiling  camels  1  in  long  line 

Instinctive  owned  the  mystic  sign, 

And  turned,  without  command,  each  day, 

Where  Heaven  and  Nature  led  the  way  ; 

Till  here  we  stand  on  Salem's  height, 

And  ask  where  rests  the  World's  Delight,2 

What  path  to  him  our  homage  brings, 

Born  King  of  Jews,  and  King  of  kings." 

IV. 

THE     REVELATION. 

A  nameless  terror  on  the  tyrant  fell, 

Who,  base  usurper,3  ruled  o'er  Judah's  state  ! 

The  false  Idumean  owned  the  unknown  spell, 
And  shook  beneath  the  shadow  of  his  fate  ! 


1  The  manifestations  of  brute  instinct,  or  of  brutes  led  by  invisible  angels, 
are  among  the  wonders  of  psychology.  See  Balaam's  ass  and  the  angel, 
Xum.   22  :  31. 

-  i.e.  the  world-blessing  seed  of  prophecy.  See  Gen.  12  :  3  ;  22  :  18  ; 
Matt.  2  :  2. 

3  Matt.  2  :  3.  The  Herods  were  all  of  Idumean  or  Edomite  stock,  who  ob- 
tained and  held  their  power  over  the  Jews  by  subserviency  to  the  Romans. 


1 68  THE  INCARNATION. 

Apostate  Salem  heard  the  rumor  spread — 

A  tale  to  thrill  with  speechless  joy  profound  ! — 

She  heard,  and  shuddering  shrank,  with  guilty  dread, 
And  strange  forebodings  brooded  dark  around. 

Then  spake  the  monarch  :  "  Call  the  priests  and  scribes,1 
The  skilled  expounders  of  the  prophets  old, 

The  august  Senate "  of  these  anxious  tribes, 
To  read  what  seers  and  oracles  have  told. 

"  Tell  me,  ye  mitred  pontiffs  of  your  race, 

Who  scan  the  lore  of  time's  primeval  morn, 
Whence  comes  th'  Anointed,  heir  of  David's  place  ? 
And  say  what  favored  town  shall  hail  him  born  ?" 

Lo  !  Judah's  white-haired  sages  swift  attend 
The  imperious  mandate  none  can  disobey  ; 

O'er  many  a  hallowed  presage  now  they  bend, 
O'er  many  a  vision  bright,  and  rapturous  lay. 

Then  came  the  answer  :   "  Monarch,  we  unroll 

Seven  centuries  flight,  to  Moresheth's3  rapt  seer  ; 

Read  thou,  for  thou  canst  read,  the  sacred  scroll, 
That  marks  Messiah's  birth-place  bold  and  clear. 

"  '  Thou  Bethlehem-Ephratah,  erst  David's  town,4 
Shall  not  be  least  of  Judah's  princely  name  ; 

1  Matt.   2:4.  2  The  Sanhedrin. 

3  Matt.  2  :   5,6.    "  Micah  the  Morasthite,"  of  Moresheth,  Micah  1  :   1. 

4  Matt.  5  :   2. 


THE  INCARNATION.  169 

Thy  future  yet  shall  dim  thy  past  ren:wn, 
Decreed  to  changeless,  everlasting  fame  ; 

"  '  For  out  of  these  shall  Israel's  Shepherd  rise. 
Of  mortal  born,  but  hailed  by  seraph  lays. 
Adored  as  God  through  all  the  earth  and  skies. 
Whose  goings  forth  are  from  eternal  days.'  " 

The  despot  hears  ;  his  dreams  of  empire  wane, 
Vain  all  his  long  career  of  craft  and  crime  : 

Esau  '  and  Earth  shall  bow  at  Shiloh's  fane. 

Whose  grandeur  looms  to  fill  the  world  and  time. 

But  that  dark  mind  still  gropes  amid  the  blaze 

Of  oracles  from  man  and  nature  given, 
A  dazzling  focus  of  concentred  rays, 

From  Jew  and  Gentile,  earth  and  answering  heaven. 


THE     RECOGNITION. 

"Call  the  seers  of  Persia  now."  - 

Spake  the  monarch's  tones  of  wrath 
Vengeance  brooding  on  his  brow, 
Plotting  deep  a  direful  scath. 


1  Esau,  Idumea,  the  Herods,  must  fall  before  Christ.  Herod  feels  himself 
already  in  danger,  and  the  savage  Arab  in  him  soon  gets  the  better  of  the 
thinly  veneered  Jew. 

-  Matt.  2  :  7,  3. 


17°  THE  INCARNATION. 

"  Tell  me,  wise  and  holy  men, 

When  did  yon  strange  star  appear  ?" 
Grave  and  calm,  they  spake  again  : 
"  Lo,  it  shineth  now  a  year." 

"  Speed  to  Bethlehem  ;  him  ye  ask 

Slumbers  there  in  infant  grace. 
Haste,  fulfil  your  pious  task, 

Search  with  care  through  all  the  place. 
When  ye  find  him  bring  me  word, 

I  would  join  your  pilgrim  band  ; 
Heaven's  great  heir  should  be  adored, 

Known,  revered,  through  all  the  land." 

Salem's  gates  once  more  unfold, 

Winds  the  throng  o'er  Judah's  hills. 
Sunset  slants  its  darts  of  gold, 

All  the  soundless  silence  thrills, 
All  the  pomps  of  nature  wait — 

Wait  till  twilight  zephyrs  sigh. 
Sudden  there,  o'er  Bethlehem's  gate, 

Streams  a  splendor  down  the  sky. 

Lo  that  star1  by  Oxus  hailed, 
Star  by  Babel's  *  sages  read, 

1  Matt.  2  :  9,  io. 

9  I  bring  the  Magi  from  the  primitive,  prehistoric  Iran,  on  the  upper  Oxus, 
to  make  their  year's  journey.  They  stop  at  Babylon  and  confer  with  the 
Chaldaean  astronomers  on  the  way. 


THE  INCARNATION.  171 

All  its  beams  once  more  unveiled. 

Swims  in  seas  of  light  o'erhead  ! 
Pours  its  soft  and  silvery  tide, 

Bathing  wall  and  tower  and  fane, 
Refluent  waves  that  tremble  wide 

Over  mountain,  field,  and  plain. 

Guided  by  the  lamp  from  heaven, 

On  the  raptured  Magi  speed, 
Grateful  for  such  witness  given. 

They  have  found  the  Child  indeed. 
Xow  it  hangs  above  the  place 

Where  his  humble  roof  is  spread — 
Heir  of  glory,  King  of  grace, 

Rocked  in  infant's  cradle-bed. 

VI. 

THE    ADORATION. 

Lo,  the  sages  prostrate  falling, 
On  the  infant  Saviour  calling. 
Wisest  seers  of  far-off  nations 
Round  him  blend  their  supplications. 
Praise  and  prayer  like  incense  pouring, 
Rapt,  illumed,  inspired,  adoring  ! 
Hymns  of  joy  with  rapture  swelling, 
O'er  and  o'er  with  transport  telling 
All  the  weird  and  wondrous  story. 
All  its  faith,  its  toil,  its  glory  ! 


i  J  2  THE   INCARNATION. 

Not  vain  babblers  they,  with  mystic 

Signs,  and  secrets  cabalistic  ; ' 

Not  false  wizards,  foul,  infernal, 

Conjuring  with  the  Name  supernal  ; 

Not  black  magic's  league  with  devils, 

Theirs,  nor  witchcraft's  midnight  revels  ; 

Not  the  stark  fakeer's  pain-braving, 

Not  the  howling  dervish's  raving, 

Not  idolatry's  brute  vision, 

Not  the  Greek's  fond  dream  elysian. 

Men  were  they  whose  sires  through  ages 

Kept  the  world's  primeval  pages,2 

Kept  and  conned  the  faith  once  cheri-shed 

When  a  world  apostate  perished, 

And  whose  kings3   God's  shrine  and  nation 

Reared,  with  world-wide  proclamation. 

Men  were  they  whose  search  had  wandered 
Wide  through  nature,  prayed  and  pondered, 
Seeking  one  great  truth  supernal, 
God  th'  all-perfect,  God  th'  eternal. 
Men  were  they  austere  and  awful, 
Men  who  abhorred  th'  impure,  unlawful  ; 

1  See  works  and  articles  on  Cabala,  or  Kabala,  and  Talmud,  Magician,  etc. 

2  See  note  3  on  p.   164. 

3  There  is  no  doubt  but  the  purest  Aryan  monotheism  of  the  earliest 
Yedic  and  Avestic  hymns  was  from  the  same  source  as  the  purest  Semitic 
faith  of  the  Hebrews,  and  that  this  fact  had  a  powerful  effect  to  make  the 
Persian  Empire  favor  the  Jews,  and  to  induce  Cyrus  and  Darius  Hystaspes 
to  rebuild  Jerusalem. 


THE  INCARNATION.  175 

Men  with  souls  on  fire  for  union 

With  their  Source — sublime  communion  ! 

Such  were  they.     Xot  souls  more  fitting 

In  proud  Salem's  shrine  are  sitting — 

Souls  of  nobler,  purer  merit 

Not  the  globe's  wide  realms  inherit — 

Meet  to  bring  earth's  best  oblations. 

Great  first-fruits  of  all  the  nations. : 

Homage  glad  for  Him  whose  greeting 

Jew  and  Gentile  join,  completing. 

Let  them  bring,  and  bow,  and  offer. 

Lo.  from  many  a  jewelled  coffer. 

Many  a  casket  rare  and  shining. 

Pour  forth  treasures  past  divining  !a 

1.  Gold. 
And  first  imperial  gold  they  bring, 
Grand  service,  meet  for  sceptred  king  ; 
For  Him  whose  right  to  reign  alone, 
Wide  subject  realms  with  tribute  own. 
Bright  coins  of  many  a  mint  are  there, 
And  many  a  blazoned  crown  they  bear  ; 
Broad  arms  and  seals  of  towns  and  states, 

1  These  Magi  were  the  noblest  and  fittest  ambassadors  the  whole  Gentile 
world  could  have  furnished  to  send  to  greet  its  Redeemer  ;  and  as  represent- 
ing its  future  master  race,  the  Aryan  stock,  they  were  the  blood-kin  ances- 
tors and  representatives  of  the  Indo-European  Christian  nations,  who  rule  the 
learning,  power,  and  wealth  of  the  world  for  Christ  to-day. 

-  Matt.  2  :  11. 


174  THE  INCARNATION. 

From  Egypt's  Nile  to  Indus'  gates  ; 
From  shores  that  drink  Atlantic's  spray 
To  sands  that  slope  to  far  Cathay  : 
Earth's  empires  round  that  infant  rolled, 
Their  royal  duty  paid  in  gold, 
The  pledge  of  Earth's  uncounted  hoards, 
Whose  wealth  and  power  are  all  her  Lord's, 
Whose  mines  and  gems  and  treasures  won, 
Shall  serve  the  kingdom  of  God's  Son. 

2.  Frankincense. 

Divine  frankincense  next  exhales 
Its  odor  on  the  ravished  gales, 
That  balsam  owned  o'er  all  the  earth, 
A  gift  too  rare  for  mortal  worth  ; 
Fragrance  too  fine  for  crumbling  clod, 
And  only  breathed  in  flame  to  God. 
That  sacred  incense  heaven  denied  1 
To  mortal  joy  or  mortal  pride, 
Beneath  the  conscious  infant's  eye 
Now  rolls  its  volumes  toward  the  sky, 
And  sense  of  Heaven's  accepting  grace 
With  joyous  sweetness  fills  the  place. 
Not  spicy  gales  from  Yemen  bring 
Such  balm,  while  birds  of  evening  sing  ; 
Not  Hermon's  cedar,  Ural's  pine, 
Expire  so  sweet  in  flames  divine  ; 

1  Ex.   30  :   34-37. 


THE   INCARNATION.  i;- 

Xor  sandal,  fetched  from  far  Malay. 

So  steals  the  sense  and  soul  away. 

So  prayer  from  contrite  souls  ascends. 

So  faith  with  pure  forgiveness  blends. 

So  orisons  of  souls  sincere 

Accepted  greet  Jehovah's  ear. 

And  guilt  and  pain  find  glad  release. 

When  heaven's  blest  Spirit  whispers  peace. 

3.  Myrrh. 

And  now,  at  last,  the  myrrh's  sad  breath 
Reluctant  sighs  of  woe  and  death  ; 
Of  grief  and  bitterness  it  tells, 
And  sorrow  in  its  sweetness  dwells. 
Xo  flame  its  pungent  soul  sublimes, 
No  temple's  arch  its  vapor  climbs  ; 
No  pestle  grinds  it  with  sweet  spice 
To  burn — a  costly  sacrifice. 
Its  heavy  perfumes  stifling  roll, 
Its  power  benumbs  both  sense  and  soul. 
The  wretch  condemned  to  pangs  untold 
It  soothes  with  stupors  dull  and  cold  ; ' 
E'en  rank  corruption's  hosts  obey, 
And  quit  the  corpse  that  owns  its  sway. 
Then  why,  ah  why,  this  gift  of  fear, 
This  omened  sorrow,  blending  here 

1  Owing  to  its  powerful  anaesthetic  and  antiseptic  properties,  it  w^s  given 
to  condemned  criminals,  and  used  for  embalming. 


176  THE  INCARNATION. 

With  royal  gold  and  incense  sweet, 
For  King  and  God  a  gift  complete  ? 
Ah  Calvary  !  thy  tale  was  known 
Ere  eldest  angels  hymned  the  throne  ! 
That  lamb,  of  virgin-mother  born, 
Was  slain  ere  chaos  blushed  with  morn.3 
Before  the  founded  world  God's  plan 
Forestalled  the  sin,  the  shame  of  man, 
And  mercy  gave  God's  only  Son 
Ere  mortal  joy  or  woe  begun. 
The  myrrh  before  all  else  is  his  ; 
For  this  he  quit  the  bowers  of  bliss, 
For  this  the  stable  heard  his  cries, 
For  this  he  lives,  for  this  he  dies. 
And  royal  gold  and  incense  breath 
Are  his  by  right  of  myrrh  and  death  ; 2 
For,  conquering  Death,  he  yet  shall  rise 
To  crowns  and  anthems  in  the  skies  ! 
O  King,  O  Christ  !   what  sorrows  stir, 
What  raptures,  at  thy  gift  of  myrrh  ! 

VII. 

POSTLUDE. 

'Tis  done.     They  give  their  gifts,  they  give  themselves — 
Themselves  Philosophy's  first-fruits  to  Faith  ; 

1  Rev.  13  :  8.      "  The  Lamb  that  hath  been  slain  [i.e.  in  the  divine  plan] 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  Rev.  13  :  8,  R.  V. 

2  Heb.  2  :  9,  10  ;   Rev.  5  :  9-14. 


THE  INCARNATION.  177 

First-fruits  of  Science  ;  howsoe'er  she  delves. 

Or  soars  through  all  that  is,  above,  beneath. 

The  universe  explored  is  but  the  breath 
Of  that  IntelHgence  '  incarnate  now, 

And  minds  that  scan  his  power,  his  love,  his  death, 
His  life  o'er  death,  through  worlds  and  aeons  bow, 
And  crown  with  many  crowns  2  the  great  Creator's  brow. 

Tis  done.     Th'  adoring  Magi,  warned  by  heaven, 

To  their  own  climes  return  another  way. 
'Tis  done.     This  mystic  sign  to  mortals  given, 

Shall  teach  the  nations  to  time's  farthest  day. 

For  unknown  tribes  their  homage  yet  shall  pay, 
And  mightiest  empires  on  his  nod  attend  ; 

To  him  shall  endless  generations  pray,3 
And  praise  like  incense  evermore  ascend, 
Till  earth  and  heaven  at  last  their  alleluias  blend. 

'Tis  done.     My  soul,  what  offering  canst  thou  bring, 
Meet  gift  for  Him  who  chose  the  myrrh  for  thee  ? 

What  fit  oblation  for  such  hero-King, 

Who  mounts  the  awful  throne  of  deity  ?4 

O  Child,  O  Conqueror,  hear  my  spirit's  plea  ! 

Teach  me  thy  sovereign,  Self-renouncing  Love  ;  5 
Help  me,  by  mount  or  cross,  thy  path  to  see, 

And,  upward  drawn,  like  homeward-circling  dove, 

A  child-like  soul,  to  find   Sire,  Brother,  Home,  above. 

1  The  Eternal  Logos,  John  1  :  1-3.  -  Rev.  19  :  12. 

?-  Ps.  72  entire.  4  Phil.  2  :  9-1 1.  B  John  3  :  16. 


THE    CHRISTMAS    BELLS. 

I. 

Hark  !  the  bells  of  Christmas  ringing  ! 
All  abroad  their  echoes  flinging  ! 
Wider  still  and  wider  winging 

On  the  waste  of  wint'ry  air — 
On  their  solemn,  swift  vibrations, 
Rapture,  rapture  through  the  nations  ! 
Rapture,  till  their  glad  pulsations 

Million  blissful  bosoms  share  ! 

II. 

Every  bell  to  every  hammer 
Answers  with  a  joyous  clamor- 
Answers,  till  from  out  the  glamour 

Of  the  ages  far  and  dim, 
Till  from  Bethlehem's  stable  lowly, 
Fair  as  moonrise,  opening  slowly, 
Streams  of  radiance  pure  and  holy 

Down  the  brightening  centuries  swim. 

III. 
Then  the  bells  ring  fine  and  tender  ; 
And  from  out  that  far-off  splendor, 
Veiled  in  light  no  dreams  could  lend  her, 
Lo,  the  virgin  mother  mild, 


THE    CHRISTMAS  BELLS.  179 

Pale  from  guiltless  pain  unspoken, 
Calm  in  faith's  deep  trust  unbroken, 
Bright  with  heaven's  unconscious  token, 
Bends  above  her  wondrous  child  ! 

IV. 

Still  the  bells  ring,  softly,  sweetly, 
Mingling  all  their  chimes  so  meetly, 
Trancing  all  my  soul  completely, 

Till  the  rosy  clouds  divide  ; 
And  o'er  Bethlehem's  mountains  hoary 
Bursts  a  strange  celestial  glory, 
Swells  a  sweet,  seraphic  story, 

Trembling  o'er  the  pastures  wide  ! 

V. 

Glory  !  glory  !   God,  descending, 
Weds  with  man  in  bliss  unending  ! 
Hark  !   th'  ecstatic  choirs  attending 

Smite  their  lyres  with  tempest  sound  ! 
Shout  !   Old  Discord's  reign  is  riven  ! 
Peace  on  earth  !  good-will  is  given  ! 
Shout  the  joy  through  highest  heaven  ! 

Make  the  crystal  spheres  resound  ! 

VI. 

Earth's  sad  wails  of  woe  and  wrangling, — 
Like  wild  bells  in  night-storms  jangling, 
Xow  their  jarring  tones  untangling 

In  some  deep,  harmonious  rhyme, — 


i8o  THE    CHRISTMAS  BELLS. 

Touched  by  Love's  own  hand  supernal, 
Hush  their  dissonance  infernal, 
'Catch  the  rhythmic  march  eternal, 

Throbbing  through  the  pulse  of  time. 

VII. 
Lo,  the  babe,  where,  glad,  they  found  him, 
By  the  chrismal  light  that  crowned  him  ! 
See  the  shaggy  shepherds  round  him, 

Round  his  manger,  kneeling  low  ! 
See  the  star-led  Magi  speeding, 
Priest  and  scribe  the  record  reading, 
Craft  and  hate  each  omen  heeding, 

Brooding  swift  the  direful  blow  ! 

VIII. 

Vain  the  wrath  of  kings  conspiring  ; 
Vain  the  malice  demons  firing  ; 
On  the  nations,  long  desiring, 

Lo,  at  last,  the  Day-star  shines  ! 
Earth  shall  bless  the  hour  that  bore  him  ; 
Unborn  empires  fall  before  him, 
Unknown  climes  and  tribes  adore  him 

In  ten  thousand  tongues  and  shrines. 

IX. 
Hark  !  the  Christmas  bells,  resounding, 
Earth's  old  jargon  all  confounding  ! 
Round  the  world  their  tumult,  bounding, 
Spreads  Immanuel's  matchless  fame  ! 


THE    CHRISTMAS  BELLS.  181 

Million  hands  their  offerings  bringing, 
Million  hearts  around  him  clinging, 
Million  tongues  hosanna  singing, 
Swell  the  honors  of  his  name  ! 

X. 

Crown  him,  monarchs,  seers,  and  sages  ! 
Crown  him,  bards,  in  deathless  pages  ! 
Crown  him  King  of  all  the  ages  ! 

Let  the  mighty  anthem  rise  ! 
Hark  !  the  crash  of  tuneful  noises  ! 
Hark  !  the  children's  thrilling  voices  ! 
Hark  !   the  world  in  song  rejoices, 

Till  the  chorus  shakes  the  skies  ! 

XI. 

Living  Christ,  o'er  sin  victorious, 
Dying  lamb,  all-meritorious, 
Rising  God,  forever  glorious, 

Take  our  songs  and  hearts,  we  pray. 
May  we,  thee  by  faith  descrying, 
On  thy  death  for  life  relying, 
Rise  to  rapture  never-dying, 

Rise  with  thee,  in  endless  day. 


PAUL   AT    PHILIPPI. 

[Book  of  Acts,  16  :  8-15.] 
I. 

'Twas  Sabbath  at  Philippi's  town,  in  Macedonian  Thrace, 
But   worldly  labors,  pleasures,  strifes,  resounded  through  the 

place  ; 
For  Grecian  pageant,  Roman  power,  knew  not  God's  holy  day, 
And  few  and  strange  were  Israel's  seed,  who  turned  aside  to 

pray. 

II. 
For  them  no  temple  reared  its  dome  :  Apollo's  marble  shrine1 
Rose  fair,  and  from   Pangaeus'  height  waved  Bacchus'  grove 

divine  ; 
E'en    mortal    Caesar's  sculptured    form 2  obsequious    throngs 

adored, 
With  nature's  known  and  unknown  powers,  all  things,  save 

God  the  Lord. 


1  There  was  an  "  oracle"  of  Apollo,  as  the  god  of  divination,  here,  as  rep- 
resented by  the  pythoness,  and  so  undoubtedly  a  beautiful  marble  temple. 
Mt.  Pangaeus,  a  spur  from  Mt.  Haemus,  the  Thracian  Balkan,  overlooked 
Philippi,  with  a  temple  and  grove  of  Bacchus  or  Dionysus  on  its  slope. 

2  The  deification  of  the  later  Roman  emperors,  even  while  living,  was  or- 
dered by  the  senate,  and  practised  throughout  the  empire. 


PAUL  AT  PHILIP  PI.  183 

III. 

Him,  though  all-present,  those  who  sought,  before  his  throne 

to  wait 
In  humble  prayer  and  grateful  song,  must  seek  without  the 

gate  ; 
And  by  Gangistes' J  rippling  flood,  beneath  the  summer  air, 
A  lowly  group  of  women  2  bowed  to  Israel's  God,  in  prayer. 

IV. 

Not    as    the    wild    bacchantes3    raved    among    those    hills    of 

yore, 
When  first  the  wine-god's  revelries  were  brought  from  India's 

shore ; 
Not  like  the  Pythoness 4  profane,  with  Delphic  frenzy  fired, 
Knelt  that  chaste  sisterhood  of  souls,  in  worship  pure  inspired. 


1  Gangistes,  or  Gaggitas,  the  small  river  which  flowed  around  the  walls  of 
the  Philippi  of  Paul's  time.  It  was  a  deep  and  rapid  stream  there,  and  flows 
into  a  marshy  lake  in  the  plain  below.  See  Conybeare  and  Howson's  ' '  Life  and 
Travels  of  St.  Paul  ;"  also  a  very  copious  and  thorough  article  on  Philippi  in 
McClintock  and  Strong. 

-  As  a  Roman  military  "  colony,'  under  Roman  law,  there  were  probably  but 
few  Jews  there,  and  they  had  no  synagogue,  but  only  a.proseuchia,  or  "  pray- 
ing-place," outside  the  gate.  The  larger  number  of  women  than  men  in  relig- 
ious worship  has  ever  been  a  noticeable  fact,  creditable  to  woman. 

3  The  worship  of  Bacchus  by  the  delirious  ravings  of  his  priestesses — bac- 
chantes— was  here  on  its  classic  ground,  having  been  first  brought  from 
India  to  Thrace,  and   thence  to  Greece. 

4  The  pythoness  comes  in  later  in  Paul's  ministry  at  Philippi.  She  is  only 
noticed  here  for  the  contrast  in  favor  of  these  sober  and  godly  women  who 
worshipped  Jehovah. 


1 84  PAUL   AT  PHILIP  PI. 

V. 

But  on  that  day  four  l  holy  men  sat  in  their  circle  small — 
Luke,  Silas,  youthful  Timothy,  and  mighty-minded  Paul  ; 
From  Asian  climes  to  Europe's  shores  that  missionary  band 
Had  crossed  the  Grecian  sea  to  bring  glad  news,  at  Christ's 
command.2 

VI. 
From  Troy 3  had  crossed,  by  Homer  sung  in  dim  primeval  yore, 
Where   Priam   built,  and   Helen   sinned,   twelve  centuries  be- 
fore ; 
Where  Hector,  Ajax,  Diomed,  and  wise  Ulysses  strove, 
And  great  Achilles'  spear  o'erthrew  heroes,  and  gods  above.4 

VII. 

Not    as    the    old    Phoenicians5    came,   who  sought   Pangaeus' 

gold, 
Nor  as  once  passed,  to  win  the  world,   the  Macedonian  bold  ;6 

1  There  may  have  been  more,  but  the  four  mentioned  were  almost  certainly- 
present. 

2  By  the  vision  seen  at  Troas,  Acts  16  :  9,  10. 

3  The  Homeric  Troy  (Ilium,  whence  Homer's  "Iliad")  was  then  in  ruins, 
and  the  Alexandria  Troas,  whence  Paul  sailed,  was  a  newer  city,  on  a  new 
site,  but  on  the  same  renowned  "  plain  of  windy  Troy,"  with  the  scenes  of 
the  immortal  epic  all  around  it. 

4  The  exploits  of  Diomed  against  Mars  and  Venus  are  here,  by  poetic 
license,  attributed  to  the  spear  of  Achilles,  who  was  the  great  hero  of  the 
war,  the  slayer  of  the  Trojan  champion  Hector. 

5  The  Phcenicians  wrought  the  gold  mines  of  Mt.  Pangaeus  before  the 
beginning  of  the  Greek  history  of  che  locality. 

6  Alexander  the  Great. 


PAUL   AT  PHILIP  PL 

Not  with  the  pomp  of  earthly  state,  nor  pride  of  earthly  lore. 
Those   way-worn    pilgrims    met    that    day    beside    Gangistes' 

shore. 

VIII. 
That   plain,  an   hundred  years  agone,  saw  Rome's   Republic  ' 

fall, 
When     Freedom     fled     the    conquered    world,    and    Tyranny 

grasped  all  ; 
And    Haemus'    snow-clad     peaks,    afar,     blushed    erst,    when 

Typhon  2  strove 
And  Earth's  rude    powers,   o'erwhelmed   in   blood   by  bright 

celestial  Jove. 

IX. 
But  ah,  that  day  a  mightier  than  Philip's  deathless  son, 
Or  great  Augustus,  on  that  plain  Rome  and  the  world  who 

won, 
Or    mythic    Jove,   whose  fabled    bolts   the  Titan   crew  could 

quell, 
Was  first  to  Europe  preached,3  as  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth 

and  hell. 

1  At  the  famous  battle  of  Philippi,  fought  on  this  plain  B.C.  42,  when  the 
Republican  power  fell  forever,  and  Caius  Octavius,  grand-nephew  of  Julius 
Caesar  on  his  mother's  side,  became  Caesar  Augustus,  the  first  and  most  fa- 
mous emperor  of  Rome. 

-  Mt.  Haemus  was  the  scene  of  the  famous  mythological  conflict  between 
Jupiter  (Jove)  and  the  Titans. 

3  At  least  this  is  the  first  record  of  preaching.  There  were  Christians  at 
Rome,  and  probably  elsewhere  in  Europe,  before  we  read  of  any  preachers 
among  them,  but  this  is  the  first  official  apostolic  beginning. 


1 86  PAUL   AT  PHI  LI  PPL 

X. 

Him  Paul  proclaimed,  of  Mary  born,  the  peasant  Nazarene, 
And    told    his    life    of    wonders    o'er,    'mid     that    enchanting 

scene  ; 
Not   Orpheus'   shell,1    that  thrilled    those   shores,    while   trees 

and  rocks  kept  time, 
Nor  bright  Apollo's  golden  lyre,2   e'er  breathed    such  strains 

sublime. 

XI. 

Good  news  !  glad  news  !  the  Lord  is  come  !  Immanuel,  long 
foretold, 

Has  lived,  and  died,  an'd  risen,  and  reigns,  eternal  bliss  t'  un- 
fold ! 

And  on  that  list'ning  company  blest  influence  benign 

E'en  now  he  pours,  till  many  a  soul  is  lit  with  joy  divine. 

XII. 

And  one  true  heart  God  opened   then,  touched  by  his  Spirit's 

power — 
A  woman's  heart,  and   Lydia's  faith  found  life  in  Christ  that 

same  hour  ; 
And  all  her  wealth,  with  all  her  love,  she  laid  at  Jesus'  feet, 
And   in   her  house   God's   servants   found  home,  church,  and 

converse  sweet. 

1  The  triumphs  of  Orpheus'  wonderful  harp — whose  body  was  a  dried  tor- 
toise-shell— occurred  here  in  Thrace,  where  he  was  a  king  and  poet-minstrel. 

2  Apollo,  as   the  god  of  the   lyre   as  well  as  of  divination,  was  also  wor- 
shipped here. 


PAUL   AT  PHILIPPI.  187 

XIII. 

Oh,  brightest  day  that  ever  yet  has  dawned  o'er  Europe's  hills, 
Thy  meek  beginning  all  my  heart  with  hope  and  comfort  fills  ! 
Pangaeus'  hundred-petalled  rose,1  that  sets  his  slopes  aflame, 
Breathes  not  such   fragrance  as  thy  deed,   around   Philippi's 
name  ! 

XIV. 

Fade,   Grecian  glory  !   Roman   power  !     A  mightier   empire's 

march 
Is  blazoned  on  the  orient  sky,  and  kindles  heaven's  high  arch  ! 
Rise,   Freedom,  nevermore  to  fall  I      Rise,  woman,2  pure    and 

bright, 
To  cheer  man's  toil  up  centuries    of    heavenward-deepening 

light  ! 

XV. 

And  ever  when  our  hearts  grow  faint,  or  earthly  dreams  allure, 
When   fruit   seems   small,   the   cross   too  great  for  nature    to 

endure, 
We'll  hail  that  band  who  preached  and  prayed  beside   Gan- 

gistes'  wave, 
And  trust  Him  still  who  reigns  for  aye,  omnipotent  to  save. 

1  The  "  Rosa  Centifolia,"  "  Hundred-leaved  rose,"  mentioned  by  Theo- 
phrastus  and  Pliny  as  blooming  on  the  slopes  of  Pangaeus,  near  Philippi, 
blooms  there  still,  as  all  over  southern  Turkey,  in  vast  fields,  as  a  staple  crop, 
in  the  "  attar  districts,"  where  thousands  of  acres  are  red  for  weeks  with  the 
roses  in  their  season. 

-'  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  continent  where  Christianity  has  done 
most  for  woman  is  the  one  where  woman  first  did  most  for  Christianity,  at 
its  introduction. 


THE    SACRED    GLORY   OF   OLD   AGE. 


To  the  Rev.  Daniel  Curry,  DD.,  LL.D., 

EMANCIPATIONIST,  EDITOR,   AUTHOR  AND  LEADER  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

glorious  white  head  and  spotless  fame,  and  his  unbroken  strength  at  seventy-six  years, 
make  him  an  illustrious  example  of  its  theme,  this  poem  is  admiringly  and  lovingly  dedicated. 


"  Thou  shalt  come  to  thy  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a  shock  of  corn  cometh  in  in  his  season." 
— Job  5  :  26. 

"  The  hoary  head  is  a  crown  of  glory,   if  it  be  found   in    the  way  of  righteousness." — Prow 

r  as  the  days  of    a  tree  are  the   days  of  my  people,  and   mine  elect   shall  long  enjoy  the 
work  of  their  hands." — Isa.   65  :  22. 

Hail  blest  Old  Age  !   when  life  well  spent  is  crowned 
With  years  and  honors,  loved,  revered,  renowned  ; 
Earth's  noblest  state,  where  all  ripe  virtues  blend, 
And  life's  best  hopes  in  rich  fruition  end. 
So  the  round  year,  its  hoarded  labors  won, 
Basks  'midst  its  stores,  'neath  autumn's  golden  sun. 
And  when  white  locks  and  venerable  years 
Are  crowned  with  holy  piety,  that  cheers 
Life's  slow  decline,  and  o'er  its  closing  days 
Sheds  a  warm  halo  of  celestial  rays, 
Then  time's  supremest  gift  to  man  is  given, 
And,  doubly  crowned,  he  tastes  both  earth  and  heaven. 

How  glorious  stood  earth's  patriarchs  of  old. 
While  ages  lapsed,  and  centuries  unrolled 
The  long  and  labored  tapestry  of  time, 
Thick  wrought  with  wisdom's  golden  lore  sublime  ! 
Like  mighty  oaks  whose  rugged,  iron  forms, 
While  ages  roll  defy  the  mountain  storms, 


THE    SACRED    GLORY   OF   OLD   AGE.  189 

Towered  Adam,  Seth,  and  Exos,  hand  in  hand 
With  Cainan,  Tared,  and  Methuselah  grand, 
A  giant  grove,  beneath  whose  shadow  stood 
An  unknown  world,  from  Eden  to  the  flood  ; 
Whose  long  tradition  kept  creation's  lore. 
And  o'er  the  delude  safe  the  treasure  bore  ! 

See  Xoah,  prophet,  preacher,  seer  and  sage, 
Last  light  of  hope  that  warned  earth's  blackest  age  ; 
Whose  mighty  ship  outrode  a  drowning  world  ; 
Great  sire  of  tribes  whose  standards,  far  unfurled, 
Three  continents  explore,  and  nations  found 
Whose  fame  shall  spread  to  time's  remotest  bound  ; 
Yet  age  on  age  they  turn  to  own  once  more 
Earth's  second  sire,  his  blessing  to  implore, 
Whose  heaven-inspired,  benign,  paternal  sway 
Gilds  realms  on  realms,  that  love,  revere,  obey. 

Blest  day  divine  when  heavenly  strangers  trod 
The  plain  where  dwelt  in  peace  the  "  Friend  of  God  " 
At  his  tent's  door,  while  passed  the  sultry  hours, 
The  Patriarch  breathed  the  balm  of  Hebron's  bowers. 
Around  was  peace,  and  power,  and  prince-like  wealth. 
Within  were  prayer  and  plenty,  honor,  health, 
Where  he  and  Sarah,  save  one  wish  content, 
In  thankful,  pious  love  life's  evening  spent. 
That  wish  heaven  hears,  they  clasp  their  infant  boy, 
And  Isaac  fills  God's  goodness  and  their  joy, — 


IQO  THE    SACRED    GLORY   OF   OLD  AGE. 

Isaac,  whose  offering  crowned  that  faith  sublime 
Whose  grandeur  awes  the  world  to  endless  time  ! 

How  glorious  in  life's  golden  sunset  shows 
The  Man  of  Uz,  the  man  of  mighty  woes  ! 
What  quivering  human  heart  did  God  e'er  probe 
Like  that  pure,  patient  heart  of  godlike  Job  ? 
A  prince  of  Joktan's  tribes,  a  grand  Emir, 
Arabia's  saint  and  sage,  Jehovah's  seer, 
He  kept  the  faith  from  Noah's  cov'nant  true, 
Though  Abr'ham's  favpred  race  he  never  knew, — 
That  faith  which  Balaam  preached,  but  basely  sold — 
Apostate  !  lost  for  Balak's  bribing  gold  ! 
Such  he,  the  mightiest  man  of  all  the  East, 
Whose  children's  days  go  'round  in  endless  feast  ; 
Whose  flocks  and  herds  o'erspread  a  thousand  hills  ; 
Whose  pious  soul  God's  grace  with  goodness  fills — 
Hell  boldly  challenged  to  impeach  his  worth  ! — 
Perfect  and  upright  !     Not  his  like  on  earth  ! 

Yet,  such  God's  will,  this  steadfast  soul  to  try, 
In  one  dire  charge  hell,  earth,  and  blazing  sky 
Around  him  crash  !     Health,  wealth,  friends,  children,  gone. 
Bereaved,  o'erwhelmed,  he  sits  in  dust  alone  ; 
Yet  cries  :   "  The  Lord  who  gave  hath  taken  away  ; 
Blest  be  the  glorious  name  of  God  this  day  ! 
I  know,  I  know  my  great  Redeemer  lives, 
And  life  or  death  alike  in  love  he  gives. 


THE    SACRED    GLORY   OE   OLD   AGE.  19 1 

Worms  waste  this  flesh,  yet  in  this  flesh  I'll  see 
My  God  on  earth  !     He  yet  shall  call  for  me, 
And  though  he  slay  me,  yet  in  him  I'll  trust, 
And  shout  with  answering  joy  from  Sheol's  dust  ; 
Or  wait  till  his  appointed  time  shall  come, 
When  he  remembers  me  and  brings  me  home," 

The  storm  rolls  by,  hell's  fierce  and  envious  blast, 
And  mortal  faith  towers,  triumphs,  to  the  last  ! 
The  mystery  clears,  and  God  avows  with  pride 
His  hero-saint,  'gainst  earth  and  demons  tried, 
Whose  faith  a  false  philosophy  \  reproves, 
And  owns  that  God  may  chasten  those  he  loves. 
God's  hand  afflictions  sore  full  oft  may  send, 
Yet  he  who  sorrows  most  be  most  God's  friend. 
One  faithful  soul,  while  God  maintains  his  realm, 
All  hell  may  shake, — but  not  all  hell  o'erwhelm  ! 

Then  doubling  blessings  on  Job's  life  descend, 
And  doubling  joys  his  glorious  age  attend. 
His  flocks  and  herds  in  ampler  thousands  roam  ; 
Brave  sons,  fair  daughters,  throng  his  princely  home  ; 
Four  generations  swell  their  sire's  renown, 
And  sevenscore  vears  his  head  with  honors  crown  : 


1  The  friends  of  Job  were  in  that  short-sighted  error  in  moral  philosophy 
and  theology  which,  ignoring  the  retributions  of  the  life  to  come,  suppose 
that  all  reward  and  punishment  are  in  this  life,  and  are  therefore  bound 
to  suppose  that  the  prosperous  here  are  virtuous,  and  the  unfortunate  wicked, 
a  theory  which  needs  only  to  be  stated,  in  the  light  of  facts,  to  be  refuted. 
See  Christ's  rebuke  of  the  same  error  among  the  Jews,  Luke  13  :  1-5. 


192  THE    SACRED    GLORY  OF  OLD  AGE. 

Till,  full  of  days,  sufficed,  the  saint  sublime 
Departs  in  peace, — revered  through  earth  and  time. 

How  blest  was  Jacob  when  he  saw,  in  truth, 
Through  age-dimmed  eyes,  his  Joseph,  lost  in  youth  ; 
When  Egypt's  Lord  with  pride  his  sire  avowed, 
And  Egypt's  king  to  crave  his  blessing  bowed  ; 
When  round  his  dying  couch,  in  reverence  grave, 
Twelve  mighty  sons  his  benediction  crave  ! 
Then  on  his  seer-like  sight  in  vision  rose 
His  countless  race,  triumphant  o'er  their  foes  ; — 
Their  conquering  tribes,  of  Canaan's  soil  possessed, 
A  powerful  realm  through  ages  long  and  blest  ; — 
Till  Shiloh's  coming  fired  his  passing  soul, 
And  Zion's  glory  dawned  from  pole  to  pole. 

Lo,  Moses,  graced,  not  bent,  by  sixscore  years, 
Time's  matchless  son,  in  fadeless  prime  appears  ! 
On  Nebo's  dome,  with  eyes  undimmed  and  bright, 
From  Hor's  brown  crags  to  Hermon's  snow-crowned  height 
From  Syria's  sands  to  ocean's  far-off  shore, 
He  views  the  long-sought  country  o'er  and  o'er, — 
Jordan's  deep  vale,  that  boasts  a  tropic  sun, 
Carmel's  green  ridge,  and  glorious  Lebanon. 

What  wondrous  ways  his  pilgrim  feet  have  trod 
Since,  scorning  Egypt's  crown  for  Israel's  God, 
Through  fourscore  years  Jehovah's  grace  and  power 
Have  led  him,  safe,  to  life's  last  glorious  hour  ! 


THE    SACRED    GLORY  OF  OLD   AGE.  193 

Before  his  eyes  the  hills  of  promise  glow  : 
Freed,  taught  by  him,  a  nation  camps  below 
Proud  Egypt  slumbers  where  the  sea-waves  moan  ; 
Nations  unborn  earth's  noblest  law  shall  own  ; 
Jehovah's  name  adored  by  man  once  more — 
God's  burial  here,  immortal  life  before  ! 

Caleb  and  Joshua,  faithful  erst  for  God, 
In  green  old  age  the  hills  of  Canaan  trod. 
Bold  Caleb,  valiant  at  fourscore  and  five 
His  pledge  fulfils  the  giant  brood  to  drive 
From  Hebron's  mount.     God  nerves  his  good  right  arm, 
He  wins  his  prize,  and  safe  from  all  alarm 
He  dwells  revered,  a  venerated  man 
Among  his  honored  race, — a  powerful  clan 
Who  swayed  in  after  years  the  judgeship's  rod,1 — 
"Because  he  wholly  followed  Israel's  God." 

And  mighty  Joshua  led  God's  conquering  host 
From  Jordan's  flood  to  Canaan's  farthest  coast. 
Before  him  Jericho's  famed  ramparts  fall  ; 
The  sun  stands  still  on  Gibeon  at  his  call  ; 
And  thirty  conquered  kings  his  sceptre  own, 
From  Seir's  wild  crags  to  cedared  Lebanon. 
On  Gerizim  a  nation's  blessing  sounds  ; 
From  Ebal's  cliffs  a  nation's  curse  rebounds. 

1  Othniel,  Caleb's  nephew  and  son-in-law,  was  the  second  theocratic  judge, 
the  first  after  Joshua,  Judges  3  :  9-1 1. 


194  THE    SACRED    GLORY  OF  OLD   AGE. 

God's  law  is  owned  the  rule  of  all  the  land, 
And  each  tribe  settled  where  Jehovah  planned. 
Then  all  the  tribes  attend  the  hero-sage, 
And  drink  the  counsels  of  his  reverend  age  : 
His  trembling  hands  a  nation's  vows  record, 
A  nation's  loyal  oath  to  Israel's  Lord. 
Life's  last  work  rounds  a  century's  toil  and  trust, 
His  own  green  hill  receives  the  hero's  dust. 

What  honor  crowns  great  Samuel's  closing  day, 
Whom  Israel's  tribes  and  Israel's  king  obey  : 
Predestined  seer  !     The  trembling  Eli  heard 
From  infant  lips  Jehovah's  awful  word 
That  doomed  his  impious  sons  for  crimes  abhorred; 
And  Israel  owned  the  prophet  of  the  Lord. 
Philistia  flies,  and  Ebenezer's  stone 
Proclaims  the  wondrous  victory  God's  alone. 
The  challenged  tribes  his  spotless  sway  attest, 
Their  history's  longest  sov'reignty,  and  best ; 
A  century's  cycle  o'er  his  rule  has  passed, 
God's  mightiest  judge,  the  purest,  and  the  last. 
He  crowns  Saul  king — no  king  could  fill  his  room  ! 
A  mourning  nation  bears  him  to  the  tomb. 

What  fame  gilds  mighty  David's  parting  hours, 
Bard,  warrior,  monarch,  mourned  by  Gentile  powers  ! 
A  threefold  genius  crowned  his  soul  with  fire, 
The  sword,  the  sceptre,  and  the  sacred  lyre. 


THE    SACRED    GLORY  OF   OLD   AGE.  195 

His  youthful  sling  the  giant  warrior  felled, 

And  countless  victories  life's  long  triumph  swelled. 

He  found  a  weak,  obscure,  defeated  state, 

And  left  a  powerful  empire,  rich  and  great. 

He  found  a  ritual  narrow,  stern,  severe, 

And  left  a  hymnal  earth  and  time  to  cheer. 

He  sinned,  but  owned  contrition's  keenest  smart, 

Humbled  and  cleansed,  a  man  of  God's  own  heart. 

In  glorious  age  he  dies,  and  leaves  behind 

A  son,  the  sage,  the  proverb  of  mankind. 

How  great  Elijah's  lightning  soul  o'ercame 
Age,  sorrow,  death,  and  leapt  to  God  in  flame  ! 
God's  grandest  seer,  whose  wrath  at  Baal  hurled 
Drought,  flame,  and  whirlwind  on  a  trembling  world  ! 
But  Baal  vanquished,  Heaven's  pure  law  restored, 
And  Israel's  God  by  Israel's  tribes  adored, 
Then  home  to  heaven  on  angel's  wings  he  flew, — 
Who  earthly  home,  love,  solace,  never  knew  ! 

A  grateful  king  o'er  old  Elisha  bowed 
And  wept  in  royal  woe,  and  cried  aloud  : 
"  Ah  !  Israel's  chariot,  Israel's  horseman  thou  !  " 
Then  spake  the  dying  seer  :   "  A  mighty  bow 
And  store  of  arrows  quickly  hither  bring. 
And  Israel's  seer  shall  shoot  for  Israel's  king  !" 
The  king  obeys.     The  mighty  bow  is  bent 
Bv  roval  hands,  the  fateful  arrow  sent  : — 


96  THE    SACRED    GLORY   QF   OLD   AGE. 

"  The  arrow  of  the  Lord's  deliverance  flies, 
And  Syria  falls  !" — the  prophet  shouts  and  dies  ! — 
Buried  with  royal  pomp — whom  realms  revere, 
Kings,  nobles,  princes  proud  to  bear  his  bier  ! 
Ev'n  in  his  mummied  bones  heaven's  fires  survive, 
The  dead  but  touch  them  and  the  dead  revive  ! 1 

See  far-famed  Daniel,  risen  from  captive's  chains, 
An  empire's  premier  through  three  world-wide  reigns  ! 
The  mighty  monarch's  heaven-sent  dreams  he  told, 
And  time's  remotest  destiny  unrolled. 
From  Nile  to  India  spreads  his  powerful  sway, 
And  sixscore  provinces  his  law  obey. 
The  blameless  sage,  at  fourscore  years  and  ten, 
Is  hurled  from  power  to  glut  the  lions'  den  : 
When  lo  !     A  wonder  !     Tamed  by  angel  hand, 
With  peaceful  purr  all  night  the  shaggy  band 
Around  the  awful  saint  keep  watch  and  ward, 
While  Daniel  sleeps,  or  wakes  to  praise  the  Lord  ! 
He  lives  !     He  rules  !     The  Asian  world  adores  ; 
And  mighty  Cyrus'  powerful  word  restores 
To  Judah's  land  her  tribes  and  treasures  lost, 
And  builds  God's  temple  at  an  empire's  cost. 
Then  toil,  with  life,  the  "  man  beloved  "  lays  down, 
And  fills  an  unknown  grave,  a  world's  renown. 

See  hoary  Simeon  just,  devout  and  pure, 
Awaiting  Israel's  Consolation  sure  ; 

1  II.  Kings  3  :  21. 


THE    SACRED    GLORY   OF   OLD   AGE.  197 

Nor  shall  he  die — so  Heaven's  deep  whisper  told — 
Until  the  Christ  of  God  his  eyes  behold. 
Inspired  he  seeks  with  haste  the  holy  shrine, 
And  there  beholds  and  clasps  the  child  divine  ! 
Then  God  he  praised,  the  virgin  mother  blessed — 
Though  nameless  anguish  yet  should  pierce  her  breast — 
And  hailed,  while  seer-like  joy  his  bosom  thrilled, 
God's  great  Salvation,  on  his  sight  fulfilled, 
Heaven's  glorious  Light,  to  Jew  and  Gentile  sent  : 
Then  "Nunc  dimittis  "  breathed  a  world's  content  ! 

Lo,  aged  Paul,  in  chains  at  sovereign  Rome, 
From  Nero's  bload-stained  hand  awaits  his  doom  ! 
Three  times  Redemption's  standard,  high  unfurled, 
His  hand  has  borne  around  the  Grecian  world. 
On  Mar's  proud  hill, — 'neath  Dian's  world-famed  shrine, — 
His  burning  lips  have  told  the  tale  divine. 
The  poor,  the  great,  have  blessed  the  tale  he  brings, 
Peasants  and  peers,  philosophers  and  kings. 
The  grandest  soul  of  all  his  living  age, 
His  name  sublimest  writ  on  history's  page, 
Accomplished,  learned,  heroic,  eloquent, — 
In  chains  and  dungeons  now  his  years  are  spent, 
Mobbed,  stoned,  and  shipwrecked,  exiled,  old,  and  poor, — 
Afflictions,  bonds,  life's  only  prospect  sure, — 
And  yet  o'er  all  his  soul  exults  on  wings, 
And  like  an  eagle  soars,  like  seraph  sings  ! 
The  glorious  fight  is  fought  ;  the  martyrs'  faith 


198  THE   SACRED    GLORY   OF  OLD  AGE. 

Proclaimed  and  kept  !     Now  where's  thy  sting,  O  Death  ! 
Where  is  thy  victory,  Grave  !     A  crown  of  life 
Awaits  the  Conqueror  in  the  heavenly  strife  ! 

Last,  brightest  name  that  crowns  the  wondrous  band 
Where  patriarchs,  prophets,  kings,  apostles  stand, 
Lo,  John,  beneath  a  century's  spotless  snows, 
Still  breathes  that  love  which  through  the  seraphs  glows  ! 

In  youth  he  owned  the  mighty  Baptist's  word, 
But,  at  his  mandate,  sought  th'  incarnate  Lord. 
With  James  and  Peter  Hermon's  mount  he  trod, 
While  Christ  transfigured  blazed,  confessed  as  God  ! 
His  head  reclined,  beloved,  on  Jesus'  breast, 
What  time  the  mournful,  mystic  feast  he  blessed. 
Last  at  the  cross — first  at  the  empty  tomb  ! — 
He  stands  unawed  'mid  shuddering  nature's  gloom  ; 
The  sacred  mother  from  her  son  receives — 
Executor  of  all  Immanuel  leaves 
Upon  the  world  he  made  ! — last  pledge  of  love, 
Before  God's  Son  shall  seek  his  Sire  above. 

Paul's  mighty  parish,1  won  from  Gentile  lands, 
Obeys  the  crozier  in  the  patriarch's  hands, 
Whose  fierce  rebukes  on  Gnostic  dreams  are  spent, — 
A  "  son  of  thunder  !  "     Dove  and  eagle  blent  ! 

1  In  his  later  years  John  became  Bishop  of  Ephesus,  with  doubtless  the 
whole  of  Paul's  churches  in  Asia  Minor,  perhaps  those  of  Greece  also,  as  his 
diocese,  where  his  philosophic  mind  found  its  appropriate  field  in  opposing 
the  rising  errors  of  the  greatest  early  heresy — Gnosticism. 


THE    SACRED    GLORY   OF   OLD   AGE.  199 

Fierce  powers  oppose  ;  the  cauldron's  bubbling  oil 
Around  his  hallowed  form  forgets  to  boil, 
And  o'er  his  aged  limbs  refreshing  flows, 
A  sweet  anointing,  fragrant  as  the  rose  ! 

Lone  Patmos'  rocks,  and  mines,  and  convict  crew. 
Touched  by  the  exile,  bloom  transformed  anew. 
Changed  from  that  hour,  when  Christ  the  sun  outshone 
In  Godhead's  awful  glory,  all  his  own. 
Then  on  the  awe-struck  seer  what  visions  broke  ! 
Earth,  heaven,  and  hell  around  him  opening  spoke  ! 
Seals  !  trumpets  !  vials  !  dragons  !  hosts  of  light  ! 
The  wars  of  God  that  shake  the  world  for  right  ! 
Earth's  farthest  ages  o'er  his  vision  flash  ! 
He  hears  great  Babylon's  world-resounding  crash  ! 
He  sees  the  new  Jerusalem  descend, 
God's  dazzling  church,  whose  glories  ne'er  shall  end  ! 
And  still  he  lives,  the  world  to  teach  and  cheer, 
Earth's  last,  profoundest,  most  seraphic  seer  ; 
The  Old  Man  Glorious,  seer  of  love  and  flame, 
Who  tarried  till  his  Lord  in  glory  came  ! 

Such  God's  old  age,  for  mortal  man  designed, 
The  ripening  grandeur  of  flesh,  soul,  and  mind  ; 
"  For  as  the  years  that  crown  some  mighty  tree," 
His  promise  runs,  "  my  people's  years  shall  be," 
Where  bud  and  bloom  and  leaf  and  fruit  appears, 
Shook  down  to  bless  the  world  a  thousand  years  ! 
Such  God's  grand  patriarchs,  seers,  and  sages  hoar. 


200  THE   SACRED    GLORY   OF   OLD   AGE. 

Whose  white  heads  crowned  and  blessed  the  world  of   yore. 

0  Tully,1  noblest  soul  of  seven-hilled  Rome, 
Whose  golden  periods  down  the  centuries  come 
Mellifluous,  matchless,  how  thy  classic  page 
Where  virtuous  Cato  praises  pure  Old  Age, 
Culling  such  lives  as  grace  Redemption's  line, 
Had  glowed  with  noblest  ardor  quite  divine  ! 

But  lo  !  beyond  time's  bounds  Heaven's  rainbowed  throne 
In  glory  looms,  and  like  a  sardine  stone 
Or  ruddy  jasper,  He  who  fills  it  glows  : — 
Around  his  feet,  redeemed  from  sins  and  woes, 
Sit  four  and  twenty  Elders,  mortal  forms, 
Hoary  and  white  with  time's  wild  years  and  storms, 
Old  Men  from  Earth,  who,  'mid  that  heavenly  throng, 
Sit  next  the  Lamb,  whose  faith  they  kept  so  long  : 
Sages  and  seers  and  bards  and  prophets  old, 
Priests,  patriarchs,  kings,  apostles,  martyrs  bold, 
Heads  of  the  Church,  who  led  her  hosts  through  time, 
And  now  sit  next  the  throne  in  rest  sublime, 
And  judge  the  world,  whose  wrath  for  Christ  they  braved, 
And  rule  the  blissful  nations  of  the  saved, 
And  join  Redemption's  song,  in  endless  strains, 
To  Him  whose  blood  has  cleansed  all  earthly  stains  ! 

1  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero,  the  great  Roman  orator  and  moralist,  whose  dia- 
logue, De  Senectute,  "  On  Old  Age,"  is  one  of  the  finest  of  the  Latin  classics, 
both  in  its  sentiments  and  its  style.  Cato  major  (the  elder)  he  uses  in  the 
dialogue  as  his  principal  speaker. 


THE    SACRED    GLORY   OF   OLD   AGE.  2d 

What  were  immortal  youth  to  age  like  this, 
Throned,   crowned,  revered    through   heaven's   long   age  of 
bliss  ! 

Great  Father,  hear  thy  child's  adoring  prayer  : 
I  ask  not  age,  but  if  thy  wisdom  spare 
This  life,  bestowed  by  thee,  to  lengthened  years, 
O  make  them  pure  and  peaceful,  free  from  fears, 
Useful  and  wise  !     When  passion's  fires  are  past, 
Let  nobler  flames  burn  quenchless  to  the  last  ; 
Valor  for  right,  high  scorn  of  base  control, 
And  eagle  ardor  kindle  still  my  soul. 
Let  Christlike  goodness,  humble  charity, 
God's  gifts  alone,  take  root,  bear  fruit  in  me  ; 
And  when  at  last  I  sleep  beneath  the  sod, 
May  this  be  said  :   He  loved  both  man  and  God. 

And  when,  'mid  millions  from  earth's  every  land, 
Redeemed  and  saved,  in  heaven  at  last  I  stand, 
Then,  lost  in  reverent  rapture,  let  me  gaze, 
Adoring  "  One  who  is  of  ancient  days  ;"  1 
Whose  hoary  hairs  like  spotless  wool  are  white, 
Blanched  with  eternities  of  dazzling  light  ! 
Eternal  God,  yet  man  revealed  in  truth, 
Heaven's  dateless  age  in  sempiternal  youth  ! 
Pledge  of  what  heaven's  old  age  for  man  shall  be, 
Beholding  him,  like  him  eternally  !  a 

1  Dan.  7  :  9,  10,  R.  V.  *  I.  John  3  :  2. 


ARMAGEDDON. 


[Book  of  Joel  2:2,   10,  30,  31  ;    Revelation  12:7-17;    16:  14-16;    19:11-21;    20:1-10;    Dan. 

12  :  4  ;  Isa.  11:9.] 


I. 

The  day  of  God's  great  battle 

Is  breaking  on  the  world  ; 
The  day  when  right  shall  conquer  might, 

And  wrong  to  hell  be  hurled. 
The  storms  that  shook  earth's  midnight 

Lower,  though  their  reign  is  done, 
And  ghastly  clouds,  in  blood-red  shrouds, 

Are  struggling  with  the  sun. 


1  Armageddon  (Rev.  16  :  16).  R.  V.  has  Har-Magedon,  from  Heb.  Har 
(Greek  Ar),  mountain,  and  Magedon,  the  Greek  form  of  the  Hebrew  Megiddo. 
Megiddo  was  on  a  southern  branch  of  the  Kishon,  at  the  southern  edge  of  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  near  the  foot-hills  of  the  Carmel  range,  so  that  they 
were  near  enough  to  be  called  the  Mountains  of  Megiddo.  It  was  the  scene 
of  the  famous  victory  of  Deborah  and  Barak  over  Sisera  and  the  Canaanite 
host  of  Jabin,  and  of  many  other  famous  battles.  (See  "  Elijah,"  Part  II.,  VI.) 
The  vision  of  the  seer  exalts  it  into  a  type  of  the  great  universal  and  final  con- 
flict between  good  and  evil  in  the  world.  Thus  the  famous  place  becomes 
symbolical,  rather  than  real  ;  yet,  as  in  all  symbols,  the  groundwork  of  its 
mystical  signification  is  in  the  literal  place  and  its  literal  history  ;  hence  the 
value  of  the  original  meaning,  as  explaining  and  intensifying  the  world-re- 
nowned symbol. 


ARMAGEDDON.  203 

II. 

By  old  Megiddo's  mountains, 

On  vast  Esdraelon's  plain, 
Where  hosts  have  striven,  and  realms  been  riven, 

Since  Time  began  his  reign  ; 
There,  in  earth's  final  conflict, 

Before  the  world  shall  end, 
Shall  Good  and  111,  and  Heaven  and  Hell, 

A  world  in  arms,  contend  ! 

III. 

The  voice  of  God  Almighty, 

A  trumpet-blast  sublime, 
Peals  out  on  high  through  all  the  sky, 

And  startles  every  clime  ; 
And  lo  !  through  all  the  nations, 

Where'er  the  watchword  flies, 
O'er  hill,  and  plain,  and  ocean  main, 

The  mustering  millions  rise  ! 

IV. 
I  see  the  mighty  gath'ring 

Of  uncomputed  bands  ; 
Prophet  and  sage,  from  every  age, 

The  living  of  all  lands  ; 
And  glorious  hosts  of  martyrs, 

For  God  and  Freedom  slain, 
From  dust  revive,  start  up  alive, 

And  mingle  on  the  plain  ! 


2  o  4  A  RMA  GEDD  ON. 

V. 

The  great  and  good,  the  heroes 

Who  toil  and  die  for  man, 
From  every  land  illustrious  stand, 

And  tower  along  the  van  ; 
Not  all  in  earth's  high  places, 

Not  all  the  sons  of  fame, 
But  all  well  known  before  God's  throne, 

And  called  by  Christ's  own  name. 

VI. 

No  arms  have  all  these  millions, 

No  sword,  nor  spear,  nor  shield  ; 
But  mightier  far  the  weapons  are 

With  which  they  win  the  field  ; 
For  Truth,  and  Love,  and  Labor 

Are  more  than  shield  or  sword  ; 
And  they  shall  stand  at  God's  right  hand 

Who  conquer  by  his  word. 

VII. 

But  see  !   another  army 

Is  mustering  for  the  fight, 
And  earth  and  hell  its  numbers  swell 

In  dark  and  wrathful  might  ; 
The  hosts  of  Gog  and  Magog, 

And  armies  of  the  air, 
Demons,  and  ghouls,  and  damned  souls, 

That  rave  in  fierce  despair. 


ARMAGEDDON. 

VIII. 

Kings  of  the  earth,  old  despots 

Who  long  have  bruised  mankind. 
And  long  withstood  with  chains  and  blood 

The  chainless  march  of  mind  ; 
And  dire,  gigantic  systems 

Of  error  blind  and  hoar. 
On  Christian  land  new-marshalled  stand, 

And  threat  the  world  once  more. 

IX. 
And  O,  woe  !  woe  !  to  mortals  ! 

For  Satan,  in  great  wrath, 
From  war  in  heaven  by  Michael  driven, 

Has  fall'n  in  lightning  scath  ; 
And  all  his  dragon-angels, 

A  vengeful  cloud  and  vast. 
In  fury  fly  through  all  the  sky, 

And  swell  the  blackening  blast. 

X. 

But  hark  !    A  voice  from  heaven 

Proclaims  in  triumph  loud, 
"  Salvation,  strength,  are  come  at  length. 

The  kingdom  of  our  God  ! 
The  Old  Accuser,  vanquished, 

From  heav'n  by  martyrs  hurled 
Who  owned  the  Lamb  through  death  and  shame. 

Descends  to  vex  the  world  !" 


206  ARMAGEDDON. 

XI. 
But  short  shall  be  his  triumph, 

For  lo  !  heaven's  gates  unfold, 
And  hosts  of  light,  on  steeds  of  white, 

March  down  the  streets  of  gold  ; 
And  at  their  head,  o'ercircled 

By  million  arching  wings 
Flaming  all  sides,  majestic  rides 

The  Lamb  who  victory  brings. 

XII. 

And  on  his  radiant  vesture, 
And  on  his  mighty  thigh, 
Stand  writ  in  flames  his  glorious  names, 
That  blaze  through  earth  and  sky  : 
"  Faithful  and  True  !"  for  righteous 

His  sceptre,  or  his  rod  ; 
"  The  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  V 
Th'  eternal  "  Word  of  God  !" 

XIII. 

And  lo  !  the  great  .archangels, 

With  cohorts  bright  and  fair 
Of  cherubim  and  seraphim, 

Come  marching  down  the  air  ! 
And  far  o'er  plain  and  mountain, 

O'er  many  a  field  and  flood, 
Wide  o'er  the  world  now  floats  unfurled 

The  banner  stained  with  blood. 


A  RMA  GEDDON.  207 

XIV. 

Up  !  up  !  ye  saints  of  Jesus, 

And  make  your  vestments  white  ; 
And  girt  with  flame,  in  God's  great  name, 

Urge  on  earth's  final  light  ! 
That  ensign  o'er  you  flying 

Must  never,  never  fall, 
Till  Christ  shall  reign  o'er  earth  and  main, 

Saviour  and  Lord  of  all. 

XV. 

Your  burning  testimony, 

Born  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
And  Christ's  own  blood,  a  cleansing  flood, 

Shall  arm  your  conquering  host  ; 
Until  the  ancient  Dragon, 

By  God's  strong  angel  bound, 
In  judgment's  chain,  is  hurled  amain 

Down  to  the  gulf  profound. 

XVI. 
Shut  up  and  sealed  in  darkness 

The  venomed  serpent  hoar 
Who  swayed  so  long  the  world  by  wrong 

Shall  vex  the  earth  no  more  ; 
Then  shine  the  thrones  in  heaven, 

Then  rule  the  saints  below, 
Till  truth  and  peace  and  righteousness 

Make  earth  transfigured  glow. 


2o8  ARMAGEDDON. 

XVII. 

Then  to  and  fro  with  gladness 

Shall  willing  thousands  run, 
To  tell  o'er  earth  Immanuel's  birth, 

His  great  Redemption'won  ; 
The  knowledge  of  Salvation 

Shall  spread  like  seas  abroad, 
Till  onward  roll  from  pole  to  pole 

The  triumphs  of  our  God. 

XVIII. 

O  blissful  age  !     It  hastens  ! 

It  looms  in  light  afar, 
And  darts  a  ray  of  heavenly  day 

O'er  wrong,  and  woe,  and  war. 
O  joy  !  O  martyred  brothers, 

Your  great  reward  appears  ! 
Up  !  live  !  and  reign  with  Christ  again 

A  thousand  golden  years  ! 


A   VISION    OF   THE   AGES. 

I. 
Down  the  ages,  dim  and  olden. 
Where  the  shadows,  gray  and  golden. 
Gather,  till  they  melt  and  mingle 
Like  the  shades  in  dell  and  dingle 
When  the  twilight,  gently  closing, 
Kisses  earth  to  soft  reposing, 
Down  those  ages,  dim  and  olden, 
Through  those  shadows,  gray  and  golden, 
Oft  in  thought  I  roam  and  ponder. 
Dream,  and  long,  and  love,  and  wonder, 

II. 

One  bright  day  in  brown  October, 
While  the  sunlight,  sad  and  sober. 
Sweetly  sad,  and  sinking  slowly. 
Streamed  through  all  my  chamber  lowly, 
Thus  I  sat — old  tomes  around  me — 
Sat  as  if  some  spell  had  bound  me — 
Turning  slow  the  solemn  pages 
Of  old  books,  whose  lines  are  ages  ; 
Books  where  Time  has  loved  to  linger, 
Writing  dim,  with  dusky  finger, 


A     VISION   OF    THE   AGES. 

Wisdom  weird,  and  high,  and  hidden, 

Wealth  to  half  the  world  forbidden. 

Thus,  while  slow  the  sun  was  sinking, 

Still  I  sat,  in  fancy  linking 

Thought  with  thought,  till,  as  in  dreaming, 

All  my  thinking  changed  to  seeming  ; 

And  from  all  the  glint  and  gloaming, 

Where  my  thickening  thoughts  were  roaming, 

Gathering  grand  around  and  o'er  me, 

Lo,  a  glory  grew  before  me  ; 

And  from  out  the  glimmering  glory 

Souls,  sublime  in  song  and  story, 

One  by  one,  serene  and  solemn, 

Passed,  in  long,  illustrious  column  ! 

III. 

First  the  bards,  the  master-makers,1 
Souls  who  saw  with  open  vision 
Nature,  Hades,  worlds  elysian, 


1  The  word  poet  is  a  Greek  word,  poietis,  a  maker,  from  the  verb  foied,  to 
make,  to  produce,  to  create  ;  whence  the  idea  of  original  imaginative  creation  is 
at  the  bottom  of  any  true  conception  of  poetry,  and  without  the  creative  inven- 
tion of  a  great  imagination  there  can  be  no  great  poem.  But  this  attribute 
shows  itself  in  the  small  as  well  as  the  great  things  of  poetry.  It  takes  creative 
power  to  make  a  blade  of  grass,  as  really  as  to  make  a  planet,  and  Milton's 
college  poem  on  the  miracle  at  Cana  : 

"  The  modest  water  saw  its  God  and  blushed," 

betrays  the  imagination  that  created  ' '  Paradise  Lost, "  the  most  colossal  poetic 
creation  of  the  world,  not  in  bulk,  but  in  conception  and  character. 


A    VI  SI  OX   OF    THE   AGES.  211 

Truth,  and  Beauty  :  born  partial 

Of  a  baptism,  a  libation 

From  the  Fountain  of  Creation. 

IV. 

First  came  two,  alone,  imperial 
Monarchs  of  the  race  ethereal  ; 
Great  high-priests  of  song,  whose  numbers, 
Like  the  sea,  that  never  slumbc 
Pour  their  fiery  undulations 
Through  all  ages  and  all  nation 
One  was  crowned,  and  one  was  crownless, 
One  enthroned,  the  other  throneless  : 
One  by  God's  own  hand  anointed.1 
Ruled  a  race  by  Heaven  appointed  ; 

One,  in  song  his  peer  and  brother,2 
Blind  to  earth  and  blind  to  heaven.3 
Nature's  impulse  only  given. 

From  one  island  to  another. 
Roamed,  and  sang  his  deathless  paean 
'Round  th'  immortalized  ^Egean. 

V. 
Then  came  prophets,  patriarchs,  sages, 
Seers  from  all  the  lands  and  ages  : 

1  David. 

-  Homer,  to  whom  ordinary  chronology  assigns  a  date  from  one  to  two 
hundred  years  after  David. 

3  That  is  destitute  of  Hebrew  revelation. 


212  A    VISION   OF    THE   AGES. 

He  who  walked  with  God,  translated  ; 
He  who  saw  a  world,  heaven-fated, 
Sink  beneath  the  sea,  whose  billow 
Rocked  him,  safe  as  cradle-pillow  ; 
He  the  "  Friend  of  God,"  whose  spirit 
All  the  sons  of  faith  inherit  ; 
Thou,  O  sage  and  seer,  who  standest 
Foremost  of  mankind,  and  grandest ; 
Who,  in  life's  triumphant  morning, 
Earth's  proud  thrones  and  homage  scorning, 
Siding  with  a  downtrod  nation, 
Wrought  their  great  emancipation  ! 
Smote  th'  oppressor's  land  with  wonder, 
Hail,  and  fire,  and  death,  and  thunder  ! 
Passed  the  ocean  ;  cleft  a  fountain 
From  the  rock  ;  and,  from  the  mountain, 
Gave  the  law  of  God,  whose  pages 
Scatter  light  through  all  the  ages  ! 

VI. 

Seers  from  other  lands  and  races 
Passed  me  next,  with  longing  faces  : 
Great  Lycurgus,1  Minos,2  Manu  ;3 

'  Lycurgus,  legislator  at  Sparta,  eighth  century  B.C. 
'■  Minos,  nTythological  king  and  legislator  of  Crete. 

3 Manu,  the  real  or  mythological  author  of  "  The  Institutes  of  Manu,"  the 
great  Hindu  Code  in  twelve  books,  dating  about  goo  or  iooo  B.C. 


A    VIS/OX   OF    THE   AGES.  213 

Sage  Gautama  ;  J  old  Kong-fu-tse  ; 2 
Older  still,  the  wondrous  Fuh-he  : 3 

And  the  seers  of  Brahm  and  Vishnu  ; 
Seers  Egyptian,  seers  Chaldean, 
Parsees,  Magi,  priests  Sabean, 
Rapt,  transcendent  Zoroaster,4 
Divine  Plato,  and  his  master.5 

VII. 

Who  shall  say  that  to  no  mortal 
Heaven  e'er  op'd  its  mystic  portal. 
Gave  no  dream,  or  revelation, 
Save  to  one  peculiar  nation  ? 

1  Gautama,  the  founder  of  Buddhism,  died  in  India  543  B.C.  See  note  on 
him  on  page  146. 

2  Kong-fu-tse,  the  Chinese  form  of  the  name  Latinized  as  Confucius,  the 
great  ethical  philosopher  of  China.      Died  47S  B.C. 

3  Fuh-he  (who  must  not  be  confounded  with  Fo,  the  Chinese  Buddha\  the 
reputed  founder  of  Chinese  civilization,  author  of  the  cosmological  "Book 
of  Changes."  His  alleged  reign  dates  about  2952  B.C.,  a  little  longer  before 
Confucius  than  Confucius  is  before  ourselves.  His  date  is  not  far  from  the 
Septuagint  date  for  Xoah,  whom  he  resembles  in  many  particulars.  His  trea- 
tise is  monotheistic,  teaching  an  invisible  and  infinite  author  of  all  things.  It 
will  surely  attract  more  critical  study  in  coming  time. 

4  Zoroaster,  or  Zarathustra  (Persian  Z  '.as  the  founder  of  the  an- 
cient Persian  religion,  represented  by  the  modern  Parsees  (Persians)  of 
India  and  elsewhere.  His  date  is  lost  in  the  prehistoric  obscurity  of  eastern 
Iran,  but  no  part  of  the  -  Holy  text  '*'),  the  older  parts  of  which  he 
doubtless  wrote,  and  which  is  about  double  the  size  of  Homer's  Iliad  and 
Odyssey  combined,  is  more  recent  than  400  or  500  B.C.  Hardwick("  Christ 
and  other  Masters  ")  dates  it  back  to  700  B.C. 

5  Socrates,  "  The  most  Christian  of  the  Philosophers,"  who  revolutionized 
philosophy. 


214  A    VISION   OF    THE   AGES. 

Souls  sincere,  now  voiceless,  nameless, 
Knelt  at  altars  fired,  and  flameless, 
Asked  of  Nature,  asked  of  Reason, 
Sought  through  every  sign  and  season, 
Seeking  God  ;  through  darkness  groping, 
Waiting,  striving,  longing,  hoping, 
Weeping,  praying,  panting,  pining, 
For  the  light  on  Israel  shining  ! 
Oh,  it  must  be  !     God's  sweet  kindness 
Pities  erring  human  blindness, 
And  the  soul  whose  pure  endeavor  ' 
Strives  toward  God  shall  live  forever  ; 
Live  by  the  great  Father's  favor, 
Saved  through  an  unheard-of  Saviour. 

VIII. 

Then  the  throng  grew  vague  and  vaster, 
Moving,  mingling,  floating  faster  : 
Warriors,  heroes,  conquerors  marching 
Laurelled  'neath  triumphal  arching  ; 
Statesmen,  orators  whose  thunder 
Rent  the  tyrant's  chains  asunder  ; 
Painters  whose  supreme  creations 
Ravished  the  admiring  nations  ; 
Sculptors  whose  divine  ideal 
Glorified  the  living  real  ! 

1  Acts  10  :  35. 


A     VISION   OF    THE  AGES. 

IX. 

Still,  as  still  I  saw  or  slumbered, 
Onward  swept  the  throng  unnumbered  ; 
Forms  the  world's  great  heart  has  cherished. 
Forms  it  never  knew,  that  perished, 
Left  unknown,  to  pine  and  languish. 
Drowned  in  agony  and  anguish. 
Oh,  there  have  been  souls  celestial 
Tortured  here  in  chains  terrestrial, 
Bound  in  iron,  crushed  and  broken, 
Souls  that,  could  they  once  have  spoken, 
Once  breathed  out  the  flame  that  burned  them, 
Nations  had  in  gold  inurned  them  ; 
Countless  lips  their  names  caressing, 
Endless  hearts  their  memory  blessing  ! 
These  I  saw,  their  names  I  knew  not, 
From  their  lives  the  vail  I  drew  not, 
But  I  saw  them  robed  in  whiteness, 
Walking  in  serenest  brightness, 
And  I  knew  that  all  their  sadness 
Now  was  changed  to  glorious  gladness. 

X. 

Then  before  my  vision,  slowly, 
Came  a  humble  band  '  ana  holy. 
Few  they  were,  unknown  in  story, 
Crowned  with  no  ancestral  glory, 

1  I.  Cor.  i  :  26-29. 


216  A    VISION  OF    THE  AGES. 

Poor,  unlearned,  derided,  taunted, 
Hated,  beaten,  hissed,  and  haunted, 
On  a  convict's  cross  relying, 
Scorned  while  living,  cursed  when  dying. 

XI. 

Yet  o'er  all  earth's  rage  and  railing, 
Still  I  saw  that  cross  prevailing  ! 
Seas  of  blood  around  it  pouring, 
Seas  of  flame  around  it  roaring, 
Wet  with  tears,  yet  unforsaken, 
Still  it  towered  sublime,  unshaken, 
Rose  o'er  night,  and  storm,  and  terror, 
Chased  the  goblin  glooms  of  error, 
Rose  in  radiance,  grew  in  glory, 
Conquered  science,  song,  and  story, 
Conquered  kingdoms,  ransomed  races, 
Brightened  all  earth's  darkened  places, 
Bade  the  sorrowing  sigh  no  longer, 
Made  man  freer,  nobler,  stronger, 
Broke  the  chains  of  hoar  oppression, 
Healed  the  wounds  of  old  transgression, 
Preached  the  Prince  of  Peace,  whose  praises 
Half  the  world,  redeemed,  now  raises  ; 
And  whose  sovereign  sway  transcendent, 
Soon  o'er  all  shall  reign  resplendent, 
Till  all  nations  fall  before  Hirn, 
And  all  tribes  of  earth  adore  Him. 


A    VI  SI  OX  OF   THE   AGES. 

XII. 
Then  cried  I,  O  kingdom  glorious  ! 
Haste,  and  reign  o'er  all  victorious  ! 
Fade  fond  dreams  of  fame  and  fortune, 
This  new  empire  be  my  portion  ! 
Fade  the  pomp  of  earth's  old  ages, 
Sensual  songs,  and  sensual  sages  ; 
Sensual  all,  impure,  unholy, 
Dying  from  earth's  memory  slowly. 
Let  them  die  ;  once  I  adored  them, 
Xow  no  more  my  heart  can  hoard  them. 
Once  well-nigh  had  these  undone  me, 
Xow  a  holier  hope  has  won  me. 
Pass,  vain  vision  of  earth's  beauty. 
Hail,  high,  holy,  heavenly  Duty  ! 
Hail  that  cross  !  tear-stained  and  gory  ; 
Hail  its  death,  its  shame,  its  glory  ! 
All  my  heart  falls  down  before  it, 
All  my  mind  and  soul  adore  it  ; 
All  I  am  to  this  be  given, 
This  be  mine,  on  earth,  in  heaven  ! 


THE  PROPHECY    OF   WISDOM  r1    A    PHILOSOPH- 
ICAL   ODE. 

Strophe, 
the  argument,  and  the  challenge  of  wisdom. 

When  from  the  dust,  while  spheres  celestial  sang, 
Beneath  God's  hand  man's  form  terrestrial  sprang, 
With  the  same  breath  that  breathed  the  vital  flame 
Of  brute  existence  through  his  mortal  frame, 
From  Being's  Fount  a  twofold  life2  was  given, 
And  mind,  immortal,  crowned  him  heir  of  heaven. 

The  Sons  of  God,  in  glad  surprise, 

Shouted  for  joy  through  all  the  skies  ;3 
The  harps  of  God  awoke 
To  raptest  seraph's  stroke, 

2  In  this  title  and  poem  the  term  Wisdom  is  used  in  the  sublime  and  mys- 
tical sense  of  the  Solomonic  books,  and  of  that  noble  apocryphal  book, 
the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  worthy  to  be  canonical  for  the  sublimity  of  most  of 
its  matter.  As  to  whether  the  term  is  synonymous  with  the  Greek  logos,' and 
means  the  eternal  Logos,  the  Divine  Word,  I  leave  to  more  critical  authori- 
ties ;  but  I  so  understand  it.  The  term  Prophecy  is  also  here  used  in  the 
same  archaic  sense,  implying  not  necessarily  prediction,  but  divine  dis- 
course. The  poem  is  thus,  in  reality,  a  discussion  of  the  world-old  question 
of  Philosophy  and  of  the  Soul :   "  What  is  the  Chief  Good  for  Man  ?  " 

-  See  Gen.  2  :  7,  where  the  word  life  is  in  the  dual-plural  in  the  Hebrew 
— "  breath  of  lives  " — viz.,  animal  and  spiritual. 

3  Job  38:   7- 


THE  PROPHECY   OF    WISDOM.  219 

Till  from  their  strings  of  gold 
Harmonious  rapture  rolled 
Up  to  the  white 
L muttered  height 
Of  steadfast  light, 
Unpierced  by  creature  sight, 
Where  the  Infinite,  to  the  Infinite  alone 
Revealable,  confessed  in  part,  yet  all  unknown. 
Forever  fills  the  Universal  throne. 
They  sang  the  immortal  mind  of  man,  whose  birth 

Forged  a  new  link  in  being's  golden  chain. 
Crowned  with  new  grandeur  this  unpeopled  earth, 

And  taught  the  choir  of  worlds  another  strain  ; — 
The  mind  of  man,  sole  master  of  this  globe, 

A  splendid  planet  built  to  match  his  will, — 
Mind  wrapped  in  matter  as  a  swathing  robe. 
But  quenchless,  deathless,  all  ethereal  still  : 
Launched  forth  alone,  chained  to  this  star, — 
His  cradle,  and  his  triumph  car, — 
Remote  from  worlds  around, 
fellow-spirits  found,1 
Save  his  own  kind  ; 
With  bestial  mind 
Below  him  grading  down  through  every  form 
Of  life  and  instinct,  to  the  mole  and  worm  ; 
Distinct  from  all  by  boundless  gulfs  he  stands, 

1  Gen.  2  :  20. 


220  THE   PROPHECY  OP    WISDOM. 

With  angel  mind,  and  earthly  hands  ; 
A  toiler  for  two  worlds,  of  both  compiled, 
Twixt  brute  and  seraph,  stands  Jehovah's  latest  child. 
Who  shall  instruct  him  ?     Who 
His  soul  inform, 
His  spirit  warm, 
And  teach  him  to  subdue 
The  brute  within  him,  till  the  seraph  rise 
Beyond  this  darkling  earth  and  skies, 
And  seek  companionship  above, 
In  unknown  worlds  of  light  and  love  ; 
Or  find,  in  fitness  for  that  nobler  sphere, 
A  life  celestial  bursting  on  him  here  ? 
Who  shall  unlock  his  being's  mystery  ? — 
What,  whence,  this  /  in  me  ? — 
Whence  comes  the  world  we  see  ? — 
What  is  the  life  to  be  ? — 
What  is  eternity  ? — 
Has  space  diviner  worlds,  from  sorrow  free  ? — 

Are  other  worlds  more  fair, 
With  brighter  forms  of  being  basking  there  ? — 
What,  in  this  world,  is  best, 
Which  most  can  make  man  blest  ? — ■ 
What  is  the  bliss  that  orbs  his  being's  scope, 
That  fills  his  loftiest  firmament  of  hope, 
Refines,  sublimes,  exalts  his  nature's  whole, 
Great  as  his  worth,  enduring  as  his  soul  ? — 
Yc  Fates  and  Powers  that  rule  o'er  nature's  plan, 


THE  PROPHECY  OF  WISDOM.  221 

Stand  forth,  make  answer  to  the  soul  of  man  ! 

Ye  listening  worlds  the  awful  quest  attend, 

"Tis  Wisdom  calls,  man's  highest  guide  and  friend. 

Axtistrophe   I. 

THE    ANSWER    OF    PLEASURE. 

Pleasure  stood  forth,  a  rosy,  flower-crowned  sprite. 

With  eyes  forever  brimming  o'er  with  laughter  ; 
Her  wings  were  like  the  rainbow's  braided  light, 

Her  voice  was  song,  with  harp-strings  quavering  after. 
"  Being  is  Bliss  !"   she  cried  ; 
"  Come,  revel  at  my  side  ! 
Sorrow  is  death  ! 
Come  quaff  my  charmed  breath  ! 
Beneath  my  power 
The  Universe  shall  open  like  a  flower  ; 
Thou,  like  the  bee  o'er  dew-drops  that  reflect  her, 
Shalt  roam  from  world  to  world  and  feed  on  nectar. 
The  raptures  and  delights  of  time 
Dance  to  my  lute  in  dulcet  rhyme  : 
I  sip  on  wings 
Sweets  without  stings, 
And  loves  that  never  cloy 
Are  mine  without  alloy  : 
Clasp  me,  and  launch  on  shoreless  seas  of  joy. 
Clasp  me,  and  drown  in  all-entrancing  beauty. 
All  dreams  of  toil,  each  dull  demand  of  Dutv  ! 


222  THE  PROPHECY  OF  WISDOM. 

Thou,  while  Care's  dog-star  'neath  thee  smites  and  rages, 
Shalt  drift  on  amber  streams  down  summer  ages. 
Sense,  sound  and  sight  and  scent  and  taste  and  touch 

Shall  thrill,  ecstatic,  at  each  fleshly  portal  ; 
And  when  love  faints,  with  sweetness  overmuch, 

Fancy  shall  mount  on  wings  of  fire  immortal  ; 
And  unknown  sensuous  worlds,  like  stormless  harbors, 
Shall  woo  thee,  sateless,  through  elysian  arbors. 
Pleasure  is  life,  fit  for  the  gods  supernal  ; 
Clasp  me,  and  thrill  with  ecstasies  eternal  !" 

Antistrophe  II. 

THE    ANSWER    OF    KNOWLEDGE. 

Next  Knowledge  spake.     Her  brow  was  like  the  drifts 

Of  calm  white  cloud,  that  sail  the  skies  of  June  ; 
Her  eyes  like  planets,  gleaming  through  their  rifts, 
Unblenched  and  eager  'mid  the  blaze  of  noon. 
"  Come,  if  thou  wilt,"  she  said,  "  and  share  the  boon 
I  give  to  all  who  take  it.     Read  this  earth 

On  which  thou  ridest  without  sound  or  shock, — 
Itself  almost  a  sun,  to  you  admiring  moon  ; — 
Read  all  its  leaves  of  rock  : 
Read  all  its  changes  backward  to  their  birth, 
Its  elemental  strife 
Of  atoms,  order,  life, 
From  chaos  and  from  nothing  ;  all  the  forms 
Of  complex  life  its  generous  bosom  warms  ; 


THE  PROPHECY  OP  WISDC  223 

Trace  through  time's  labyrinth  thy  own  high  race, 
Read  all  its  tongues  and  records.  Read  the  space 
That  spreads  around  thee,  populous  with  suns, 

Where  each  in  glory  runs, 
Leading  a  glittering  host  of  worlds  like  thine. 

By  the  same  hand  divine, 
Sown  radiant  as  foam  bubbles  o'er  the  deep. 
Read  all  the  mystic  laws  that  keep 
Those   flocks  of  worlds,   led  forth  as  shepherds  guide  their 
sheep. 

Read  thy  own  soul  ; — 
What  awful  problems  roll 
Their  shadows  round  thy  destiny.     Thyself, 
What  art  thou,  strange,  audacious,  earth-born  elf  ? 
What  is  it  sits  within 
This  living  manikin.. 
And  calculates  the  comet's  calendars. 

And  with  the  spectroscope's  alembic  shows 
Each  element  that  in  Arcturus  glows. 
And  counts  and  weighs  and  crucibles  the  stars  ; 
And  on  the  two  legs  of  a  triangle 

O'erleaps  the  orbit  bars 
Of  whirling  suns,  and  walks  self-taught  and  well, 
Stretching  its  gunter's  chains 
Across  star-dusted  plains. 
And  then  lies  down  and  sleeps  in  this  skull-cell  ? 
Who  art  thou  ?  and  what  lies 
Behind  thy  fleshly  eyes  ? 


224  THE   PROPHECY   OF  WISDOM. 

A  quivering  drop,  a  formless  protoplasm  ? 
Can  this  bridge  mind  and  nature's  soundless  chasm  ? 
An  automatic  dance 
Of  atoms  ruled  by  chance  ? 
A  glow  of  ethers  in  a  lobe  of  brain  ? 
A  grinning  monkey's  tailless  progeny — 
Came  thus  the  soul's  Promethean  spark  to  me  ? — 
Let  those  who  to  such  ancestry  aspire 
Exult  themselves  ! — I  boast  a  nobler  Sire  ! — 
A  storm  of  fire-mists  whirled  through  infinite  deeps 
Eddying  to  worlds,  dissolved  in  mists  again  ? 
Is  this  the  guess  that  leaps 

Cause,  mind,  and  God, 
And  spurns  the  topless  steeps 
Of  thought  where  eldest  seraph  never  trod  ? 

Is  this  the  All  ?     What  reigns  above  ? 
Is  being's  law  chance,  destiny,  or  love  ? 

What  love  ? —     Whose  love  ? —     Say,  is  there  ONE, 
In  whom  all  is,  by  whom  all  done  ? 
Without  whom  naught,  or  was,  or  is, 
Or  shall  be,  through  the  eternities  ? — 
Who  is,  and  therefore  all  things  are  ? — 
Who  wills,  and  worlds  roll,  without  jar, 
Where  nothing  was, 
Save  He,  the  Cause, — 
In  whose  calm,  infinite  might 
Suns  rise  end  gleam  as  motes  in  summer  light  ? 
Art  thou  from  Him  ?    To  Him  returns  thy  breath  ? 


THE   PROPHECY  OF  WISDOM.  225 

Know'st  thou  this  problem,  vast  and  dim  ? 

Is  there  a  GOD  ?     Art  thou  from  him  ? 
Him  canst  thou  know  ?  and  know  that  he  knows  thee  ? 
Him  canst  thou  show  ?     Unmask  Infinity  ? 
Know,  know  then  him,  and  utter  what  he  saith  ! 
Knowledge  is  life  !     Dark  Ignorance  is  death  !  " 

Antistrophe  III. 

THE     ANSWER     OF      ART. 

Art  touched  the  wondrous  lyre. 
Her  eyes  of  dreamy  fire 
Half-closed,  seemed  fixed  on  things  serene  and  high. 

Unknown  in  earth  or  sky. 
Her  senses  all  are  double.     Outward  forms 
To  her  are  veils  of  one  wide  life,  that  warms 
Plastic  through  all  things,  nature,  life,  and  mind, 
Distinct  in  each,  yet  one  in  all  combined. 
That  life  is  Beauty,  and  its  mystic  shrine 
Is  in  the  Beauty  Infinite,  Divine. 

Art  touched  the  wondrous  lyre  : — 
"  Come  learn  of  me,"  she  whispered  in  soft  tone  ; — • 
The  breathing  statue  burst  its  shell  of  stone  ! 
The  painted  goddess  sighed  her  conscious  fire  ! 
And  as  the  song  swept  higher. 
Arches  and  temples  rose  sublime, 
And  pyramids  defying  time  ; 
Minster,  cathedral,  Parthenon, 
Blossomed  while  centuries  swept  on, 


226  THE   PROPHECY   OF  WISDOM. 

Pure  marble  flowers  of  human  thought, 
Hints  of  the  soul,  in  granite  wrought. 

And  when  the  forms  of  matter  failed  expression, 
When  color,  form,  and  vastness  could  no  more, — 
When  music's  glorious  swell  died  on  thought's  shore, 
And  eloquence  itself  grew  dumb 
At  truth  and  beauty's  nameless  sum, 

Then  song  alone,  art's  first  and  last  progression, 
Caught  up  creation's  anthem  sung  of  yore  ! 

Imagination  walked  new  worlds  among, 
And  Nature  found  a  tongue, 
And  the  soul  sung, 

And  throbbing  seraphim  their  censers  swung, 
While  Art  in  raptured  wedlock  bound 
Beauty  and  thought  and  rhythmic  sound, 
And  bade  the  pulses  of  a  soul 
Through  Nature's  thrilling  framework  roll, — 
The  nameless  throb  of  life  divine 
When  genius  fires  the  mystic  line  ! — 

And  stole  the  essences  of  all  bright  things 

For  garlands,  crowns,  and  wedding  rings, 

And  cried,  with  sunrise  in  her  lambent  eyes, 
"  Beauty  is  life  !     Beauty  is  bliss  ! 
I  rule  the  universe  by  this  ! 
The  beautiful  itself  is  good, 
Beauty  is  power  !     Beauty  is  god  ! 

Beauty  is  god  !     Art  reigns,  and  chaos  dies  !" 


THE   PROPHECY   OF    WISDOM.  227 

AnTISTROPHE    IV. 
THE     ANSWER     OF     PHILOSOPHY. 

Philosophy  divine 
Rose  slow,  with  port  benign, 
And  soul  serene,  deep,  passionless  and  still. 
She  stood  a  space  remote,  upon  a  hill, 
In  stature  of  sublimest  mould, 

And  steadfast  eyes  of  clearest  truth, 
And  brow  of  cloudless,  endless  youth, 
For  centuries  cannot  make  her  old. 
Her  Yoice  was  like  a  chime  of  wondrous  bells, 

When  some  grand  anthem  swells, 
Far,  solemn,  sweet,  through  groves  and  vales  and  dells. 

"  Come  sit  by  me,"  she  said  ; 
"  Beneath  my  gaze,  as  on  a  map  outspread, 
Lie  all  the  secret  principles  of  things, 

The  forces,  that  like  hidden  springs, 
Impel  and  guide  this  universal  frame 
Which  men  call  Nature  :     Undiscovered  name  ! 
Beneath  my  gaze  the  causes  lie 
Of  all  events,  in  earth  or  sky  ; 
The  reason  of  all  change,  its  how,  and  why, — 

And  why-not, — for  I  claim 
Negation  needs  its  reason  all  the  same. 

They  who  deny 
At  Reason's  court,  must  give  a  reason  why, 
As  they  who  do  affirm  ; 
'or  only  thus  is  found  Causation's  Final  Term. 


228  THE  PROPHECY   OF  WISDOM. 

That  search  is  mine  ; — 
And  not  alone  what  is,  but  wliy, 
And  whence,  and  whither,  are  my  quest  : 
Thought's  most  profound  behest 
Waits  my  reply. 
Through  mind  and  nature  up  to  the  Divine 
My  clew  shall  guide 
The  reverent  soul  who  walks  obedient  at  my  side. 
Reason  still  bears  my  torch  : 
Her  mild  beams  never  scorch 
The  clear-eyed  pilgrim  seeking  truth's  high  goal. 
Beyond  the  outward  husks  of  things 
I  lead  to  being's  inmost  springs. 
Past  all  phenomena  like  waves  that  roll, 
I  seek  creation's  steadfast,  undiscovered  pole. 
I  climb  the  final  Alps  of  being, 
Olympian  peaks,  past  mortal  seeing  ; 
And  he  who  mounts  with  me  till  mists  are  past, 
Shall  find  th'  eternal  Absolute?  at  last, 
The  one  unchanging  Fount  of  matter,  force,  and  soul. 
Mount,  mount  with  me  !"     Philosophy  still  cries, 
"  Reason  is  godlike  life  !     Unreason  dies  !" 

Axtistrophe  V. 

THE    ANSWER    OF    POWER. 

A  blast  of  trumpets  dinned  my  ears  ! 

I  caught  the  echoing  roar  of  cheers  ! 

1  See  Sir  William  Hamilton's  "  Philosophy  of  the  Absolute,"  in  his  "  Lect- 
ures  on  Metaphysics." 


THE  PROPHECY  OF  WISDOM.  .    22,) 

A  roll  of  drums  ! 
A  shout — "  H.e  comes  !" 
"  Power  !     Power  !     Make  way  !"  stentorian  heralds  cried. 
Back  surged  the  obsequious  tide 
Of  cheering  thousands,  and  a  space  fall  wide 
Opened  ;  and  lo  !   illustrious  from  afar, 
Blazing  like  dawn,  an  all-refulgent  car, 
A  throne  sublime,  untold  by  art  or  story, 
Rolled  onward  down  a  pave  of  beaten  glory, 
Flashing  iridean  splendors,  rainbow-vaulted, 
Above  the  burning  stars  of  God  exalted  ! ■ 
Power  !   Power  !     All  grandeurs  in  his  person  strove  ; 

The  might  of  Hercules  was  in  his  frame  ; 
Apollo's  grace,  the  majesty  of  Jove, 

His  locks  ambrosial,  and  his  eyes  of  flame  ; 
His  voice — melodious  thunder  ;  his  right  arm — 
Olympian  to  smite,  Adonian  to  charm. 
"  Mount  to  my  side  ! 
All  things  are  mine  !"  he  cried. 
Ride  on  my  throne, 
And  call  the  prostrate  world  thy  own  ! 
Wealth  ? —     Tis  the  bribe  I  toss  to  my  poor  slaves  ! 

Gold  ? —     'Tis  the  pavement  for  my  jasper  wheels  ! 
Honors  ! —    I  shower  them  cheap  on  fools  and  knaves  ! 
Rank,  titles,  place  ? — are  his  who  humblest  kneels  ! 
What  are  all  these  to  me  ? 
I  sit  like  Deity  ! 
My  glance  bids  kingdoms  rise,  and  empires  fall  ; 
1  Isa=  ijl  -.  n. 


230  THE   PROPHECY  OF  WISDOM. 

I  rule  this  rolling  ball  ; 
I  throne  its  dynasties, 
And  dash  its  emperies, 
And  bid  its  millions  tremble  at  my  call. 
The  sweets  of  all  its  climes  are  mine, 
I  quaff  its  centuries  like  wine  ; 
Its  beauty,  genius,  labor,  lore, 
Are  but  the  toys  that  trick  my  store  ; 
Its  arts,  that  glow  when  history  dies, 
Proclaim  my  touch  that  bade  them  rise  ; 
Its  deathless,  time-entrancing  lays 
Are  but  the  epics  of  my  praise  ; 
And  all  the  mighty  toils 
Of  all  the  ages  are  my  garnered  spoils. 
An  hundred  nations  grew  to  swell  Rome's  state, 
And  Rome  expired  to  make  one  Caesar  great  ! 

Grasp  me  !    Grasp  me  ! 
I'll  thrill  thee  with  a  sense  of  deity  ! 
All  pangs,  all  ecstasies,  all  bliss 
Of  time,  are  swallowed  up  in  this. 
Weakness  expires  if  I  but  nod, 

Power,  Power  is  this  world's  god  !" 
"  Power,  Power  is  god  !" — realms,  races,  ages  cried  ; 
And  Power  stood  deified  ! 


THE  PROPHECY   OF   WISDOM.  231 

Epode. 
the    answer    of   wisdom. 
No  more  hoarse  trumpets  stunned  the  shattered  air. 

The  Babel  shout  of  myriads  seemed  a  jest  : 
The  earth  grew  silent  as  a  whispered  prayer. 

While  day's  last  embers  burned  along  the  West. — 
Yet  one  deep  longing,  sateless,  unrepressed, 
Cried  like  a  lost  child,  through  heart,  soul  and  mind  : 
And  is  this  all  ? — I  moaned,  in  anguish  blind  : — 
Ah  then,  not  yet  immortal  man  is  blessed  ! 
Xot  these  suffice,  were  all  at  his  behest  ! 
Xot  worlds  on  worlds  can  fill  the  gulf  within  his  breast  ! 
Amazed,  o'erwhelmed,  distressed, 
I  sank,  with  grief  oppressed. 
And  sighed  for  endless  rest. 
'Xeath  autumn  woods,  on  earth's  kind  bosom  prone. 
I  lay,  while  o'er  me  rushed  a  woe  unknown. 
Lay  sobbing,  crushed,  till  all  the  sunset's  flame  had  flown. 
And  twilight  reigned  alone. 
Then  from  the  soundless  infinite  there  stole 
A  voiceless  whisper  sweet  through  all  my  soul. 
From  nameless  depths,  beyond  the  speechless  stars. 
A  far,  inaudible  anthem's  dying  bars, 
Soft  as  the  wind-harp's  last  expiring  stress, 
Breathing  unknown,  supernal  tenderness  : 
And  pitying  love,  that  Nature  never  knew. 
Sank  like  an  ether  all  my  being  through. 


232  THE   PROPHECY   OF  WISDOM. 

No  form,  no  vision,  rose  revealed, 
All  earthly  sense  was  closed  and  sealed  ; 
But  like  the  balm  when  buds  of  rose, 
With  silent  dawn,  their  hearts  unclose, 
A  sacred,  infinite  repose 
rilled  all  my  being,  its  profoundest  deeps 
Lay  like  calm  coves,  where  Ocean's  flood-tide  sleeps. 
While  not  a  ripple  o'er  its  glassy  smoothness  creeps. 
Then  Wisdom,  from  the  silence,  said, 
"  Child,  I  was  with  Jehovah  when  he  laid 

Creation's  corner-stone  ; 1 
Before  all  creatures  I  was  his  alone, 
His  loved,  his  own. 
As  one  brought  up  with  him  of  old, 
I  saw  the  unborn  universe  unrolled 

In  archetypal  thought, 
Ere  molten  suns  in  God's  white  forge  were  wrought  ; 
Before  the  first  archangel  sprang  from  nought. 
When  from  God's  breath  forth  flamed  the  seraphim, 
I  tuned  their  untried  harps  and  infant  hymn. 
When  fiery  chaos  streamed  before  his  Word,2 

The  uproar  wild  I  heard. 
When,  at  his  fiat,  matter,  force,  and  law 

Bloomed  into  worlds,  I  saw. 
That  fiat  smote  the  abyss,  and  drift  on  drift 
Of  clustering  suns  3  flashed  forth  as  sparkles  swift, 

1  Prov.  8  :  22-36.  2Gen.  1  :   I,  2  ;  John  1  :   1-3.          3Gen.  1  :  3,  14. 


THE  PROPHECY  OF   WISDOM.  255 

Cleaving  the  ancient  dark  with  golden  rift. 

When  his  wide  compass  1  swept  the  arch  of  heaven, 

And  traced  their  orbits  for  the  circling  seven, 

I  marked  their  flight.     I  watched  him  while  his  hand 

Scooped  out  earth's  seas  and  heaved  her  solid  land,1 

Settled  her  mountains,  gave  her  deeps  their  bound, 

And  taught  her  changeful  year  its  fruitful  round. 

I  saw  the  oak  and  palm 
Rise  like  green  hymns  in  the  third  morning's  5  calm. 
I  saw  the  living  tribes  of  earth 
Leap  from  the  hand  that  gave  them  birth. 
And  walk,  or  swim,  or  fly, 
Till  earth  and  sea  and  sky 
Swarmed  populous  with  sinless  mirth. 
I  saw  the  Triune  counsel  crown  the  eternal  plan. 
And  heard  the  words  sublime  go  forth,  "  Let  us  make  many 
I  saw  man  stand  majestic,  like  his  God. 

Last,  fairest,  noblest  triumph  of  creation  : 
The  golden  mean  of  being,  from  the  sod 
Towering  to  archangelic  exaltation. 
I  saw  his  future,  from  his  Eden  station. 
Stretch  through  time's  ages  like  a  cloudy  sea  : 

I  saw  his  sin,  his  ruin,  his  salvation. 
His  fate,  self-chosen  for  eternity. 
I  saw  his  agony  and  shame, 
I  saw  his  triumphs  and  his  fame. 

27.  -  Ibid.  24,  29.  3  Gen.  1  :   n.  20-24,  26.  27 


234  THE   PROPHECY   OF  WISDOM. 

His  tears,  his  bitterness  and  sorrow, 
The  devious  paths  of  life  he  chose, 
His  dark  to-day,  his  bright  to-morrow, 
His  transient  hour  of  joys  and  woes, 
The  infinite  glory  waiting  for  his  winning, 
All  these  I  saw  before  creation's  first  beginning. 

I  saw  man's  Final  Good, 
Not  pleasure,  knowledge,  art,  philosophy,  or  power, 
But  to  be  like  his  God, 
As  once  erect  he  stood, 
In  all  the  grandeur  of  his  primal  dower, 
Pure  and  self-poised  in  truth  and  virtue,  free  ; 
Epitome  sublime  of  Deity. 

All  this  my  deep  eyes  scan  ; — 
Thus  Wisdom  answers  to  the  soul  of  man  : — 
False  Pleasure  flatters  to  deceive  ; 
Knowledge  no  heart-cry  can  relieve  ; 
Art  gilds  man's  misery,  not  removes  ; 
Philosophy  his  fall  but  proves  ; 
And  all  the  boast  of  earthly  Poiuer 
Is  but  the  phantom  of  an  hour, 
Fading,  dissolving,  changing,  mocking  all, 
Like  lovers'  ghosts,  when  dreaming  lovers  call. 
Is  then  man  wronged  ?  his  being  worse  than  vain  ?— 
The  universe  a  cheat  ? — extinction  gain  ? — 
Creation  frustrate,  folly,  or  a  crime, 
With  man  so  far  from  heaven,  so  wreak  to  climb  ? — 
Nay  !     Nay  !     This  cannot  be  ! 


THE   PROPHECY   OF   WISDOM.  235 

* 
I  knew  creation  as  a  thought, 
When  suns  and  seraphim  were  nought. 

Ere  God's  first  fiat  woke  eternity  : — 

- 

Below  all  gulfs  beneath,  beyond  all  heights  above, 
I  know  what  being's  sum  wrecked,  lost,  could  ne'er  disprove, 
/  know  creation's  corner-stone  is  Lore  .' ' 
I  know  that  goodness  is  man  s  final  good, 
Pure  loving  goodness,  like,  from,  in.  his  God ; — 
Brave,  humble,  fruitful,  all-enduring,  szveet. 
Goodness  made  his,  love  orbed  in  him  complete. 

This  gift  to  man  I  bring. 

This  is  the  holiest  thing 
His  soul  can  know,  his  being  bear  or  borrow. 
This  lights  his  darkness,  glorifies  his  sorrow, 
Refines  his  spirit  past  all  Art's  adorning, 
Illumes  his  reason  with  celestial  morning. 
This  solves  life's  tearful  history, 
And  death's  cold  fearful  mystery. 
And  flings  o'er  ruins  wild  and  dread  abyss 
The  beacon  splendors  of  immortal  bliss. 
Mourn  not  that  all  terrestrial  fades  and  flies  ; 
Doubt  not  that  goodness  lives,  though  nature  dies. 

Seek  not  my  works,  but  Me.: 

I  am  thy  Destiny. 


1  Psa.  104  :  24,  and  throughout.  ^ 

For  she  [Wisdom]  is  the  brightness  of  the  everlasting  light,  the  unspotted 
mirror  of  the  power  of  God,  and  the  image  of  his  goodness,"  etc. — WiSdom 
of  Solomon  7  :  26-30. 


>$6  DE   PROFUNDIS  VIA    CRUCIS. 

1  fill  infinity, 

And  rule  eternity, 

And  gave  myself  for  thee  ; 
And  he  who  builds  pure  love  on  God's  own  love, 
As  o'er  a  drowned  world  safe,  flew  Noah's  dove, 
O'er  seraphs  lost,  and  suns  in  blackness  driven, 
Shall  mount  with  song,  and  find  God,  Love  and  Heaven. 


DE   PROFUNDIS  VIA  CRUCIS  :  AN   EXPERIENCE   IN 
THEODICY.1 

Part  I.     Prelude. 
I. 
Out  of  the  depths  by  the  way  of  the  cross  ! — 
I  mused  on  man's  grandeur,  his  ruin  and  loss, 
That  problem  of  evil  all  ages  have  pondered, — 
Saints  trusted  with  awe, — sages  questioned  and  wondered. 

1  This  poem  is  what  its  title  purports,  a  product  of  personal  subjective  ex- 
perience, of  the  intensest  sort,  in  every  line. 

As  early  as  my  reading  and  pondering  over  the  profound  problems  pre- 
sented in  the  books  of  Job  and  Ecclesiastes,  in  boyhood,  and  of  Milton,  in  early 
youth,  in  a  new  settlement  in  Ohio,  though  I  was  then  in  active  and  (I  believe 
spiritual)  church  membership,  the  great  questions  of  the  origin  of  moral  evil, 
and  the  possibility  of  reconciling  its  existence  with  the  divine  perfections, 
began  to  burden  my  mind  with  increasing  weight,  that  finally  became  at 
times  an  anguish  almost  insupportable.  I  found  no  satisfactory  help  from 
friends  or  books,  though  I  read  and  questioned  much,  and  I  groped  thus  for 
about  ten  years.     When  studying  metaphysics  in  my  senior  year  in  Columbia 


DE   PROFUNDI S   VIA    CRUCIS.  237 

II. 
I  mused  till  the  anguish  of  millions  was  mine  ; 
Prayed,  wrestled,  and  groped  for  the  secret  divine  ; 
Debated  with  schoolmen,  vexed  science  and  seers, 
Then  bowed,  like  blind  Samson,  in  fetters  and  tears  : — 


College  I  first  became  aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the  questions  I  was  grap- 
pling with,  and  of  the  mighty  minds  that  had  dealt  with  them.  But  I  got  but 
little  help  from  Leibnitz  or  his  school  of  thought,  or  from  several  midnight 
conferences  with  some  of  the  ablest  divines  and  thinkers  I  knew.  At  last, 
on  February  Sth.  1S61.  while  walking  home  from  college,  down  Fifth  Avenue, 
having  just  passed  Madison  Square  and  Twenty-third  Street,  as  suddenly, 
and  almost  as  overwhelmingly,  as  the  light  from  heaven  flashed  upon  Saul 
on  the  road  to  Damascus,  the  whole  theory  of  the  theodicy  contained  in  this 
poem  burst  upon  my  mind,  and  I  wept  and  shouted  the  praises  of  God  on  the 
spot.  With  a  soul  all  ablaze  I  rushed  to  my  room  in  Xinth  Street,  and  in 
three  and  a  half  hours  I  had  twenty-six  stanzas  of  this  poem  on  paper. 
Twenty-four  stanzas  were  published,  under  the  title  of  "  Optimum  Omne* 
(Everything  Best)  in  the  Christian  Advocate  of  March  21st,  1S61  ;  and  I  im- 
mediately received  many  communications  from  thoughtful  and  intelligent 
persons  expressing  great  mental  and  religious  help  received  from  the  poem. 
It  was  also  quoted  in  some  religious  and  theological  works  of  the  times,  and 
reprinted  in  various  publications. 

A  second  edition  of  the  poem,  under  its  present  title,  expanded  to  forty-one 
stanzas,  appeared  in  the  National  A'  r  May,  iS5o.     Accompanying 

it  my  very  learned  and  admired  friend.  Dr.  Curry,  the  editor,  printed  the  fol- 
lowing editorial  note,  which  I   append  here,  reluctantly  on   account  of  its 
complimentary  character,  but  of   necessity  because  I  desire  to  briefly  1 
to  it.     Dr.  Curry  said,  on  page  4S0  of  the  magazine  for  1 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  call  attention  to  Dr.  G.  L.  Taylor's  poem  in  our  pres- 
ent number,  for  it  will  surely  sufficiently  attract  the  attention  of  every  thought- 
ful reader.  It  is  a  production  of  the  class  of  Pope's  *  Essay  on  Man.'  where 
the  vehicle  of  verse  is  used  to  transport  a  very  heavy  burden  of  solid  thought, 
by  which,  indeed,  the  special  poetical  excellences  of  the  vehicle  may  be  con- 
cealed by  the  superincumbent  mass  of  deep  philosophy.  It  will,  however,  be 
found  decidedly  readable,  and  also  thought-provoking.  We  do  not.  how- 
ever, for  a  moment  accept  it  as  solving  the  profound  problems  with  which  it 


238  DE   PROFUNDI  S   VIA    CAT  CIS. 


III. 

Sank  !  tost  and  o'erwhelmed  in  doubt's  whirlpool  untold, 
A  maelstrom  more  awful  than  Norway's  of  old  ! 
Till,  praying,  like  Jonah,  beneath  the  abyss, 
In  numbers  I  prayed,  and  the  burden  was  this  : 


deals.  In  his  failure,  however,  the  writer  has  an  abundance  of  distinguished 
companions,  among  whom  are  such  philosophers  as  Leibnitz  and  Bledsoe, 
and  such  poets  as  Pope,  and  Goethe,  and  Shelley — not  to  name  the  author  of 
'  Bitter-Sweet' — and  of  learned  divines  '  a  very  great  multitude.'  All 
these  have  by  turns  tried  their  hands  upon  the  weighty  theme,  and,  like  the 
suitors  with  the  bow  of  Ulysses,  each  has  in  turn  failed  in  his  efforts  ;  though, 
somehow,  each  seems  to  have  thought  that  he  had  hit  the  mark.  Milton 
makes  the  discussion  of  these  points  the  pastime  of  the  lost  spirits.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  wise  to  leave  it  to  them.  No  doubt,  God's  ways  are  all  right  ; 
they  are  also  '  past  finding  out,'  and  all  our  theodicies  are  superserviceable 
attempts  to  justify  the  divine  dispensations  in  a  court  before  which  he  refuses 
to  plead." 

Thanks  to  Dr.  Curry  for  his  complimentary  attack.  It  is  not  strange,  how- 
ever, that  he  could  not  "  for  a  moment  accept"  my  humble  effort  as  the 
solution  of  the  "  profound  problems"  in  hand.  The  poem  was  not  written  as 
an  ambitious  attempt  at  any  such  solution,  but  as  the  record  of  one  soul  s 
experience,  for  other  like  souls  who  might  possibly  be  helped  by  it. 

But  the  attempt  to  reconcile  predestinarian  theology  with  optimistic  theod- 
icy has  made  the  production  of  a  satisfactory  theodicy  impossible  to  many  a 
great  mind  besides  that  of  Leibnitz,  and  probably  will  ever  do  so.  Neverthe- 
less, no  soul  of  man  upon  whom  these  great  "  problems"  have  ever  dawned 
will  ever  rest  without  some  solution  of  them.  Ignoring  them  is  not  rest,  and 
predestinarianism  makes  God  a  monster,  while,  on  the  other  extreme,  uni- 
versalism  makes  chaos  of  divine  government.  Neither  gives  a  rational  rest. 
The  agony  is  as  old  as  the  moral  universe.  The  author  of  the  apocryphal 
book,  II.  Esdras  7  :  46-4S,  exclaims  :  "I  answered  him  [God]  and  said, 
This  is  my  first  and  last  saying,  that  it  had  been  better  not  to  have  given 
the  earth  to  Adam  :  or  else,  when  it  was  given  him,  to  have  restrained  him 
from  sinning.  For  what  profit  is  it  for  men  now  in  this  present  time  to  live 
in  heaviness,  and  after  death  to  look  for  punishment  ?  O  thou  Adam,  what 
hast  thou  done  !  for  though  it  wast  thou  that  sinned,  thou  art  not  fallen  alone, 
but   [also]   all  we  that   come  of  thee  !"     These  are  some  of  the  bottom  ques- 


DE   PROFUXDIS  VIA    CRUCIS.  239 

Part   II.     The   Problem  of   the  Ages. 

iv. 

What  is  it  to  be  ? — What  is  it  to  be  ? — 

Forever  to  drift  o'er  a  limitless  sea, 

Still  lost  in  a  trackless  and   infinite  haze 

Of  glories  that  dazzle,  and  doubts  that  amaze  ? 

tions  of  theodicy,  echoed  from  the  long  ago.  These  questions  will  not  be  rel- 
egated to  the  "vasty  deep,"  nor  to  the  debating  clubs  of  pandemonium,  at 
the  beck  of  even  my  revered  friend  Dr.  Curry.  Indeed,  he  seems  to  have  for- 
gotten his  Milton,  when  he  quotes  him  on  this  point.  It  is  not  theodicy,  but 
predestination — the  antithesis  and  stumbling-block  of  all  theodicy — which 
forms  the  theme  of  Milton's  fallen  angels,  who 

"  reasoned  high 
Of  Providence,  foreknowledge,  will  and  fate  ; 
Fixed  fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute  ; 
And  found  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost.-' 

— "  Paradise  Lost,"  Book  II.,  lines  55S-561. 

That  was  only  the  logical  result  of  predestinarianism,  and  of  the  lack  of 
theodicy!  (My  friend,  Prof.  B.  P.  Bowne,  the  eminent  metaphysician  of 
Boston  University,  who  saw  this  note,  suggested  that  "the  debate  on  Pre- 
destinarianism was  a  part  of  the  punishment  of  the  lost  angels  !"  That  view 
would  add  new  terrors  to  perdition  !)  But  away  with  the  idea  of  an  irra- 
tional theology!  God  is  the  Infinite  Reason,  and  he  says  to  us,  "Come, 
now,  and  let  us  reason  together  !"  (Isa.  1  :  iS.  R.  V.)  The  blazing  joy  of  a 
reasonable  faith  is  the  sunrise  of  the  soul  !  But  Milton's  own  view  of  the- 
odicy is  exactly  the  opposite  of  this  suppression  of  reason  in  religion — nay, 
theodicy  is  the  very  object  he  has  in  view  in  writing  his  sublime  poem,  Dr. 
Curry  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  In  his  opening  Invocation  he  prays 
for  the  Holy  Spirit's  inspiration  : 

"  That  to  the  height  of  this  great  argument 
I  may  assert  Eternal  Providence, 
And  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men." 

— Book  I.,  lines  24-26. 


240  DE  PROFUNDIS  VIA    CRUCJS. 

V. 

Unending  existence  !     How  awful  !     How  dread  ! 
My  soul  shrinks  appalled,  and  I  cover  my  head. 
As  being's  vast  mystery  looms  on  my  thought, 
Eternal,  avoidless,  unshunned,  and  unsought. 

VI. 

I  scarce  had  dared  ask  so  tremendous  a  dower  ; 

'Tis  mine,  by  the  fiat  of  infinite  Power  : 

I  tremble  ;   'tis  on  me  ;   I  cannot  expire, 

Nor  'scape  from  existence, — nor  dare  I  desire. 


That  expresses  the  very  idea  and  word of  theodicy,  which  means  the  Justifi- 
cation of  God.  And  probably  the  most  successful  and  influential  theodicy  ever 
written  is  this  same  sublime  "  Paradise  Lost,"  published  over  forty  years 
before  the  "  Theodicee"  of  Leibnitz.  Milton's  true  theodicy  is  to  be  found  in 
Book  III.,  in  the  address  of  the  Father  to  the  Son  concerning  man's  foreseen 
course,  whom  he  had  created  : 

"  Sufficient  to  have  stood,  though  free  to  fall," 

line  99,  and  in  Book  IV.,  in  Satan's  apostrophe  to  the  sun,  and  soliloquy  on 
himself,  lines  32-103,  a  passage  as  awfully  truthful  in  theology  as  it  is  sub- 
lime in  poetry. 

If  Milton  had  more  fully  discussed  the  abstract  and  universal  principles 
necessary  to  the  existence,  or  even  the  idea,  of  moral  righteousness  and  vir- 
tuous merit,  and  had  not  himself  been  somewhat  entangled  in  predestinarian 
views,  his  great  work  would  have  been  as  impregnable  as  a  theodicy  as  it  is 
sublime  above  all  other  human  compositions  as  a  poem.  The  brief  limits  of 
this  poem  restrict  me  to  a  few  of  the  central  and  fundamental  ideas  of  the 
subject,  the  very  ones  which  struck  my  mind  like  a  blaze  of  light  and  joy, 
when  the  poem  was  first  conceptually  born,  and  written  in  outline,  twenty- 
four  vears  acjo. 


DE  PROFUXDIS  VIA    CRUCIS.  241 

VII. 

Tis  on  me  ! — and  with  it  the  sin  it  has  brought  ! 
A  crime  past  conception  !     A  woe  beyond  thought  ! 
Launched  forth  on  a  life  which  no  ages  can  span, 
Yet  orphaned  from  God  since  the  ages  began  ! 

VIII. 
Xo  wrong  had  been  done  had  my  soul  never  been  ; 
Xo  joy  had   I  lost,   and  committed  no  sin  ; 
Xo  Paradise  forfeited,  vengeance  incurred, 
Xo  excellence  blasted,   nor  holiness  blurred. 

IX. 
But  O,   to  go  back  into  nothing  again, 
To  a  soul  that  has  been,  were  more  awful  than  pain  ! 
To  be  blotted  from  being,  engulfed  in  the  void, 
Were  worse  than  despair  of  a  heaven  once  enjoyed  ! 

X. 

I  start  back  aghast  from  oblivion's  verge 
But  to  writhe  on  barbed  sorrows,  like  lances  that  urge 
My  maddened  soul  forward  to  plunge  the  abyss, 
And  yet  I  shrink  back  from  that  horror,  on  this  ! 

XI. 

And  this  strife  unending  !     A  soul  self-abhorred, 

Pursued  by  the  wrath  of  an  infinite  Lord  ! 

Xo  price  for  a  pardon,  by  pain  or  by  pelf  ; 

No  flight  from  perdition,  but  flight  from  myself  ! 


42  DE   PROFUNDIS   VIA   CRUCIS. 

XII. 

No  flight  from  the  universe  stained  with  my  sin, 
From  vengeance  without  and  from  vengeance  within  ! 
From  the  infinite  law,  all-enduring  and  strong, 
From  the  guilt,  and  the  shame,  and  the  ruin  of  wrong  ! 

XIII. 

"  Sin  !"  blazes  in  wrath  on  the  universe  walls, 

"  Sin  !"  moans  evermore  through  mind's  innermost  halls  ; — ■ 

One  groan  from  creation  sin's  agony  tells  ; 

All  worlds  are  polluted — all  heavens  are  hells  !  ' 

XIV. 

O  Father  omnipotent,  all  thrones  above, 
Can  this  be  my  doom,  and  thy  nature  be  Love  ? — 
No  choice  in  my  being,  no  choice  in  its  end  ? — 
Can  goodness  and  justice  thus  fearfully  blend  ? — 

XV. 

O  Father,  unfold  this  inscrutable  plan  ! 
O,  save  me  from  cursing  the  Maker  of  man  ! 
Though  banished  forever  from  glory  above, 
Let  me  know  that  the  law  of  existence  is  Love. 

1  "  Me  miserable  !  which  way  shall  I  fly 
Infinite  wrath  and  infinite  despair? 
Which  way  I  fly  is  Hell  ;  myself  am  Hell  ; 
And,  in  the  lowest  deep,  a  lower  deep 
Still  threatening  to  devour  me  opens  wide, 
To  which  the  Hell  I  suffer  seems  a  Heaven  !" 
-Satan's  Soliloquy  on  Mt,  Xiphates,  "  Paradise  Lost,"  Book  IV.,  lines  73-78. 


DE   PROFUNDIS   VIA    CRUCIS.  243 

XVI. 

Let  me  know  that  in  righteousness  nature  was  planned, 

And  sin  was  no  part  of  God's  work  or  command  ; 

Or  hail  to  old  Atheism,  Chaos,  and  Night  ! 

Since  right  must  make  God,  or  no  God  can  make  right  ! 

XVII. 

My  sin  I  confess,  and    its  punishment  due, 
'Twere  better  I  perish  than  God  be  untrue  :  1 
I  justify  this  :  but,  if  destined  to  fall, 
Why  did  He,  who  knew  this,  create  me  at  all  ? 

XVIII. 

Foreknown  is  not  fated,  I  see  ; — should  my  choice 
Have  been  free  to  be,  or  to  not  be  ? — No  voice 
Can  come  from  nonentity,  God  must  decide, — 
Deny  me  existence,  or  make,  and  provide. 

Part  III.    The  Debate  and  Decree  in  Eternity. 

XIX. 

Lo,  infinite  Righteousness,  Wisdom,  Power,  Love, 
Propounding  the  problem  of  being,  above  ; — 
God,  space,  and  duration, — alone  and  immense, — 
No  matter,   no  spirit  ; — void — silence — suspense  ! — 


244  DE  PROFUNDIS  VIA    CRUC1S. 

XX. 

"  If  goodness  and  wisdom  create,  what  they  do 
Must  be  holy  and  wise  and  beneficent  too  ; 
It  could  not  be  other,  good  cannot  do  ill,1 
Nor  can  it  he  passive,  and  be  goodness  still  ; — 

XXI. 

The  power  to  do  good,  unexerted,  is  ill  j 2 
Exerted,  this  infinite  void  it  must  fill 
With  good  like  itself,  not  in  rank,  but  in  kind, 
With  being,  and  beings,  with  spirit  and  mind. 

XXII. 
Diversity,  too,  must  be  part  of  the  plan, 
For  goodness  must  flow  through  all  forms  that  it  can, 
Or  the  good  is  not  infinite  ;  hence  every  grade 
And  mode  of  existence,  for  good  must  be  made. 

XXIII. 

But  good  must  be  free,  or  it  cannot  be  good  ; 

No  virtue  in  yielding  what  can't  be  withstood, 

No  worthy  obedience  where  law  is  too  strong, 

No  praise  for  the  right,  where  there  cannot  be  wrong. 

XXIV. 

Hence  goodness  demands  that  each  rational  mind 
Have  in  its  own  structure,  unforced,  unconfined, 

1  Gen.  18  :  25.  2  Jas.  4  :  17. 


DE  PROFUXDIS  VIA    CRUCIS.  245 

The  power  to  originate  evil,  and  sin 
Unfettered,  untempted,  ere  good  can  begin. 

XXV. 

Xor  is  this  misfortune  to  him,  but  his  right. 
His  being's  perfection,  his  gate  to  delight, 
His  excellence  godlike,  that  gives  him  the  power, 
Unfallen,  to  merit  his  heavenly  dower. 

XXVI. 
And  what  though,  in  rashness  and  folly,  some  world. 
Some  order  celestial,  from  glory  be  hurled  ; 
Their  sad  lapse  shall  prove  the  high  freedom  we  gave. 
And  call  forth  new  wonders  to  rescue  and  save. 

XXVII. 
But  some,  lost  forever,  may  shoot  the  abyss 
Of  infinite  evil  ;  like  planets  that  miss 
Attraction  and  orbit,  quit  order's  bright  shore, 
And  darkle  down  gulfs  below  gulfs  evermore. 

XXVIII. 
All  this,  in  its  dread  possibility,  waits 
The  word  that  one  moral  immortal  creates  ! — 
But  myriads  on  myriads  wait  being  and  bliss 
From  the  fiat  that  starts  such  a  spectre  as  this  ! 

XXIX. 
Yet  being  were  better  than  never  to  be. 
And  being  were  noblest,  intelligent,  free  : 


246  DE  PROFUNDI S  VIA    CRUCIS. 

And  knowledge  and  freedom,  with  evil  foreknown, 
Were  better  than  blind  brute-existence,  alone. 

XXX. 
Yea,  being  must  be,  since,  though  evil  befall, 
Far  vaster  the  evil,  no  being  at  all  ; 
Then  God  were  the  sinner,  small  evil  repressing 
By  great,  by  withholding  the  universe-blessing. 

XXXI. 

Creation  must  be,  where  Creator  has  trod  ; 
No  infinite  good,  then  no  infinite  God  ! 
No  infinite  Fount  without  infinite  flow  ! 
No  infinite  good  without  possible  woe  ! 

XXXII. 

Yea,  all  lost,  for  aye,  still  creation  were  good  ! 

Still  Reason  adores,  and  Right  justifies  God  ! 

'Twixt  universe  empty,  or  universe  lost, 

Right  claims  the  great  chance*  with  its  gain — or  its  cost  ! 

XXXIII. 

This  is  no  dilemma,  but  infinite  sight 

Discerning  the  only,  the  absolute  right  ; 

And  infinite  Reason  demands  right  be  done  ; — 

"  Let   there  be  !" —     And  there  was — and  creation  begun  ! 

1  The  term  "  chance"  is  here  used  in  its  old  English  sense  of  opportunity, 
that  chance  to  earn  reward  by  merit  which  even  an  uncreated  universe  would 
have  the  right  to  demand  of  One  with  infinite  power  to  create. 


DE   PROFUNDIS  VIA    CRUCIS.  247 

XXXIV. 

That  fiat,  impulsive,  smote  deep  through  the  void, 
And  space  flashed  with  sundrifts,  like  armies  deployed  ; 
Force,  matter,  mind,  spirit,  from  monad  to  man, 
And  all  the  bright  complex  of  being  began. 


Part  IV.     The  Assent  of  Reason   to  the  Law. 

XXXV. 

O,  Father  Omniscient,  Abyss  of  pure  love, 
Perfection  !     Perfection  !     Beneath  and  above  ! 
Perfection  !     Perfection  !     All,  #// things  done  well  !  ' 
Perfection  forever,  in  heaven,  earth,  and  hell  ! 

XXXVI. 

A  world  without  freedom,  from  evil  restrained. 
Were  a  world  barred  from  virtue,  an  universe  chained  ! 
And  though  freedom  fall,  and  from  virtue  be  riven, 
Xo  possible  hell,  were  no  possible  heaven  ! 

XXXVII. 

Aye  nethermost  hell's  ever-deepening  abyss 
Attests  highest  heaven's  ever-heightening  bliss  ; 
By  mora/,  eternal  necessity  thus  ; 
As  infinite  minus  proves  infinite  plus  ! 

1  Ps.  104  :   24  ;  Mark  7  :   37. 


248  BE   PROFUNDI S   VIA    CRUCIS. 

XXXVIII. 

Aye  infinite  hell  proclaims  Infinite  Love 

Not  less  than  the  blaze  of  all  glories  above  ! 

In  love  God  created,  compelled  by  its  power  ; — 

In  love  he  gave  freedom  : — heav'n,  hell,  are  its  dower. 

XXXIX. 

0  Father  of  Mercy,  forgive  thy  rash  child, 
Gone  wild  in  rebellion,  in  anguish  gone  wild  ! 
My  being  was  infinite  goodness  expressed, 

1  never  can  curse  thee,  for  once  I  was  blessed. 

XL. 

I  never  can  curse  thee,  though  down  the  dark  steep — 
The  madness  of  evil  unending — I  sweep  ; 
The  great  gifts  of  being,  power,  freedom,  were  thine, 
The  choice,  sin  or  virtue,  shame,  glory  were  mine. 

XLI. 

I  never  can  curse  thee  !     Thy  goodness  shall  shine 
Through  worlds  and  eternities,  damned  or  divine  ! 
One  arch  of  perfection  thy  universe  stands  ; 
One  temple  of  Righteousness,  built  by  thy  hands  ! 

XLII. 
Below  all  abysses  rock-founded  its  piers 
On  Righteousness  rise  through  eternity's  years  ! 
Above  all  abysses,  all  heavens  above, 
Its  pinnacles  soar  in  the  light  of  God's  Love  ! 


DE  PROFUNDI S  VIA    CRUCIS.  249 

XLIII. 

And  in  this  dread  temple,  which  compasses  all, 
Abashed  and  overwhelmed  as  a  sinner  I  fall  ! 
Guilt  !  •    Guilt  !     Vile  ingratitude  !     Foulness  abhorred  ! 
"  Hell  "  ?    Hell  were  a  refuge  from  heaven  and  its  Lord  ! 

XLIV. 

Aye,  hell  were  a  refuge  from  Purity's  sight  ! 
From  Love  long  insulted  !  from  Mercy's  despite  ! 
Wide,  wide  throw  thy  portals,  O  Gulf  beyond  name  ! 
I  plunge,  self-condemned,  and  self-damned,  to  thy  flame  ! 

XLV. 

I  plunge  ! — But  what  cover  were  hell,  from  that  eye 
Of  Mercy,  long-outraged,  whose  glance  I  would  fly  ? 
Hell  scoffs  at  my  madness,  confesses  its  Lord, 
Lies  naked  before  him,  and  quakes  at  his  word  !  ' 

XLVI. 

The  walls  of  the  universe  fence  me  with  fire  ! 
Its  dome  is  one  eye  !  an  eye  blazing  with  ire  !  2 
Existence  is  anguish  !     Immortal  !     Undone  ! 
Non-existence  abhors  me  !     On  !     On  !     Ever  on  ! 

XLVII. 

On  whither  ? — O  whither,  for  refuge  from  six  ! 
Hell  blazes  without  !  and  hell  blazes  within  ! 

1  Job  26  :  6.  2  Ps.  139  :  7-12. 


250  DE   PROFUNDIS  VIA    CRUCIS. 

Wretch  !     What  were  hell's  pit  to  the  soul's  own  dread  pyre  ? 
Eternally  chained  to  a  conscience  on  fire  ! 

XL  VIII. 

Woe  !     Woe  to  the  soul  that  hath  sinned  against  light  ! 
Against  God,  self,  the  Universe,  Reason,  and  Right ! 
Still  Righteousness  reigns,  but  forme  is  the  glare 
And  the  gloom,  of  the  gulf  of  eternal  despair  ! 


Part  V.     Love  Victorious  in  Redemption. 

XLIX. 

O  Father  of  Mercy,  what  now  do  I  see  ? 

God-Christ  !     God  in  man  !     He  is  dying  !     For  me  ! 

O  infinite  tenderness  !  stronger  than  death, 

My  life  his  last  heart-throb,  my  name  his  last  breath  ! 

L. 

"  Forgive  them  !"  "  Tis  finished  !"  he  murmurs,  and  dies  ! 
Earth  reels  in  amazement  !    Night  mantles  the  skies  ! 
All  nature  avows  him  !     The  dead  quit  the  grave  ! 
He  dies  ;  but  he  rises,  the  "  Mighty  to  save  !" 

LI. 

From  Edom  he  cometh,1  in  vesture  of  blood  ! 
From  Bozrah  he  marches  in  strength  like  a  God  ! 

1  Isa.  63  :  1-6. 


DE   PROFUXDIS   VIA    CRUCIS.  251 

Law's  wine-press  of  wrath  he  has  trodden  alone  ! 

Love's  year  of  Redemption  dawns  bright  from  God's  throne  ! 

LII. 

Lo  !  through  those  five  rents  in  the  veil  of  his  flesh, 
The  Godhead  within  him  outblazes  afresh  ! 
Wrath  !  wrath  against  sin  ;  but  the  love  that  can  die 
With  joy,  to  save  sinners,  illumes  earth  and  sky  ! 

LIII. 
Hail,  thorn-crowned  Redeemer  !    My  sad,  bitter  heart 
Breaks  down,  mercy-melted  !     My  frozen  tears  start  ! 
My  dark  doom  was  just  ;  this  is  mercy  alone, 
Such  mercy  as  none  but  my  God  could  have  shown  ! 

LIV. 

My  Substitute  there  in  that  Victim  I  see  ; 

The  wrath  that  o'erwhelms  him  had  else  o'erwhelmed  me  ! 

He  pays  my  last  debt,  blots  the  page  with  his  gore, 

And  the  stained  sword  of  justice  gleams  lightnings  no  more. 

LV. 

He  stands  with  the  arms  of  his  mercy  outspread  ! 
He  bids  me  accept  him  who  died  in  my  stead  ! 
Thrice  damned  be  my  pride,  if  such  love  it  repel  ! 
The  pride  that  scorns  love  were  too  hellish  for  hell  ! 

LVI. 

O  Lover  !     I  perish  !     I  fly  !     I  embrace 
My  death  in  thy  dying  !   my  life  in  thy  grace  ! 


252  DE  PROFUNDIS  VIA    CRUCIS. 

New  power  to  hate  sin,  and  new  power  to  love  good, 
Stream  flooding  my  soul  with  the  rapture  of  God  ! 

LVII. 

The  Rapture  of  Righteousness  !     Righteousness  mine  ! 
Imparted,  inwrought,  by  a  wonder  divine  ! 
Faith's  miracle  perfect  !     New-born  and  forgiven  ! 
Cleansed!    Justified!  Sanctified!  Hell  changed  for  heaven 


Part  VI.     Postlude. 

LVIII. 

Sin's  riddle  is  ended.     Doubt's  problem  is  clear. 
Earth,  heaven,  and  hell,  are  all  justified  here. 
Yea,  let  God  be  righteous,  though  man's  be  the  loss  ; 
Down  gulfs  and  abysses  light  streams  from  the  Cross  ! 

LIX. 
From  gulf  and  abyss  by  the  cross  I  ascend. 
There  hangs  my  Redeemer,  my  Judge,  and  my  Friend  ; 
My  ransom,  my  cleansing,  my  joy  evermore  ; — 
I  gaze  in  rapt  wonder,  and  love,  and  adore. 

LX. 

I  gaze  without  terror,  where  angels  with  awe 
Desire  1  to  look  into  Love's  infinite  Law  ; 

1  I.  Peter  i  :  12. 


A   METHODIST   CEXTEXXIAL    SOXG.  253 

Where  thrones  '  and  dominions  God's  wisdom  shall  learn  ! 
And  cherub  and  seraph  with  new  rapture  burn  ! 

LXI. 
I  gaze  without  terror.     From  Eden  the  sword 
Departs,  and  Earth  hails  her  Shekinah  2  restored. 
God  shines  through  all  souls,  through  all  worlds  that  obey  ; 
And  the  light  of  his  smile  is  Love's  infinite  Day. 

LXII. 

Now  glory  to  God,  to  the  Father,  and  Son, 
And  Spirit,  thrice  worshipped,  the  Three  in  the  One  ! 
Praise,  honor,  and  blessing  !     Shout  angels  again'! 
All  worlds,  hells,  and  heavens,  shall  echo  Amen  ! 


A    METHODIST    CEXTEXXIAL    SOXG. 

[Delivered  on  several  occasions  in  connection  with  the  celebration  of  the  First  Centennial  of 
American  Methodism,  in  1866.] 

Thou,  O  all-inspiring  Spirit  !  all-illuming,  unconfined, 
Deep  from  out  the  inmost  ardors  of  the  calm,  eternal  Mind, 
Breathe  on   us   thy  fiery  effluence,  those  who  hear,  and    him 

who  sings, 
Flash  through  every  soul  thy  fervors  !     Waft  us  all  on  rapt- 
ure's wings  ! 

1  Eph.  3  :  10. 

1  Gen.  3  :  24,  the  shekinah,  before  which  men  worshipped,  is  undoubtedly 
expressed  in  the  imagery  of  this  verse. 


254  A    METHODIST  CENTENNIAL    SONG. 

Ere  from  godlike  bliss  Edenic  lured  and  hurled  by  hosts  of 
hell, 

Man,  the  favorite  of  Jehovah,  like  a  new-born  planet  fell, 

In  the  counsels  of  creation,  ere  the  endless  silence  heard  : 

"  Let  there  be  !" — and  worlds  from  nothing  rolled  harmoni- 
ous at  the  word  ; — 

There,  ere  eldest  archangelic  orders  hymned  the  wTondrous 
plan, 

Yearned  the  undiscovered  Godhead  with  the  love  that  died 
for  man  : 

Yearned,  and  when  he  fell  proclaimed  it  in  that  promise  faint 
and  far, 

Glimmering  down  Earth's  twilight  distance  like  a  dim  and 
misty  star. 

Down  long  prehistoric  ages,  down  the  patriarchal  years, 

Dawned  its  beams  on  saints  and  sages,  rose  on  raptured  bards 
and  seers, 

Till,  with  one  wild  burst  of  anthems  warbling  through  a  thou- 
sand spheres, 

Lo,  Immanuel,  Everlasting  Saviour,  Prince  of  Peace  appears  ! 

Day  immortal  !     Day    uncelebrated    still,  though   Earth  so 

long 
Beats  and  pants  with  pulse  seraphic,  soaring  up  the  heights  of 

song  ! 
Not  by  mortal  lays,  and  not  by  all  the  ecstatic  choirs  above, 
Ever    has    been,   ever    shall    be    told   Redemption's  depth    of 

love. 


A   METHODIST  CENTENNIAL    SONG.  255 

As  the  broad,  bright  tides  of  morning  stream  o'er  Ocean's 
boundless  breast, 

As  from  out  the  East  the  lightning  shineth  even  to  the  West, 

So,  through  every  land  and  language  to  the  known  world's  far- 
thest bound, 

Flew  the  glad  news  of  salvation  and  the  long-lost  Eden  found  ! 

Wondrous  then  the  change  transforming  hearts  and  nations 

in  a  day  ! 
Men,  to  moles  and  bats  their  idols  casting,  owned  Messiah's 

sway  ; 
Art,  philosophy    and    learning,  song    and    science,  power    and 

fame, 
Thrones  and  kingdoms,  mightiest  empires,  all  adored  Imman- 

uel's  name. 

Then,  alas  !  a  wave  of   midnight  o'er  the  troubled  nations 

spread  ; 
Manhood    failed    and    Freedom    perished  ;    learning,  science, 

song  were  dead  ; 
And  the  great  salvation,  bought  for  man  with  agony  divine, 
Bound,  blasphemed,  was  sold  for  lucre,  bartered  at  an  impious 

shrine  ! 

Lo,  once  more  celestial  sunrise  wide  o'er  Earth  in  splendor 
plays  ! 
Gloom   and   error  flee  before  it,  smit  with  Truth's  resistless 
rays  ! 


256  A    METHODIST   CENTENNIAL    SONG. 

Rack  and  dungeon,  axe  and  fagot,  all  in  vain  its  light  with- 
stand ; 

God's  almighty  love  must  conquer, — who  can  bind  Jehovah's 
hand  ? 

Wickliffe,  Huss,  Savonarola,  Calvin,  Luther,  Cranmer  rose, 

Wrapped  in  zeal  like  Israel's  prophets  when  they  pled  with 
Israel's  foes  ; 

Rending  off  the  soul's  base  bondage,  long  in  blood  and  vileness 
trod, 

Pointing  faith  alone  to  Jesus,  conscience  only  to  its  God. 

Then,  with  vast  and  wondrous  quickening,  lo  !  the  mind  of 
man  awoke  ! 

Nations  started  from  their  slumbers  as  at  midnight  thunder- 
stroke ! 

Seas  were  crossed,  new  worlds  discovered,  stars  unknown  from 
darkness  swung  ! 

'Round  the  globe  the  shout  of  progress  rang  through  every 
land  and  tongue  ! 

Then,  ah  !  then  a  cloud  of  evil,  scoffing,  doubt,  dispute,  and 
sin 

Veiled  the  brightness  of  the  dawning,  shut  the  heavenly  sun- 
rise in  ; 

Wrapped  in  shade  Immanuel's  standard,  late  o'er  longing 
lands  unfurled  ; 

Damped  the  fire  on  Zion's  altars,  dimmed  her  light  that  lights 
the  world  ! 


A    METHODIST   CENTENNIAL    SOXG.  257 

But  not  thus  could  fail  God's  promise,  purposed  ere  the  world 

began, 
Breathing,  burning  down   the  ages   unextinguished    love    for 

man  : 
Not  one  jot  or  tittle  written  ever  from  his  law  shall  fail  ; 
'Gainst  the  Church,  by  Jesus  planted,  gates  of  hell  shall  ne'er 

prevail. 

Lo  !  Immortal  Wesley,  scorning  ease  and  pleasure,  honor, 

fame, 
All    his    mind    on    fire  from  heaven,  all   his  heart  with   love 

aflame, 
All  his  ardent  soul  illumed,  anointed  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Sanctified  and  sealed,  arises,  called  to  lead  the  blood-washed 

host  ! 
Called  to  preach  the  great  salvation,  boundless,  endless,  full 

and  free, 
Grace  that  saves  man's  utmost  being,  saves  through  all  eternity! 

Thousands  caught  the  rapturous  tidings  ;  heard,  believed 
with  shouts  of  praise  ; 

Spread  from  isle  to  isle  the  story,  set  Britannia  in  a  blaze  ! 

O'er  three  thousand  miles  of  ocean  winds  and  waves  the  mes- 
sage bore, 

Like  a  spark  from  heaven  falling,  kindling  on  this  XewWorld's 
shore ! 

Here  awhile,  repressed,  it  smouldered,  till,  by  God's  own 
Spirit  fanned, 


258  A    METHODIST   CENTENNIAL    SONG. 

Glimmering,  rising,  spreading,  mounting,  soon  it  swept  o'er  all 
the  land  ! 

First  in  Barbara  Hick's  pure    spirit  leapt  to  life  the  long- 
pent  gleam  ; 
Swift  from  soul  to  soul  it  lightened,  darting  wide  its  dazzling 

beam, 
Till,  as  flames  o'er  autumn  prairies  fling  their  banners  fierce 

and  high, 
Mingling  in  a  fiery  ocean  flashing  earth  and  glowing  sky, 
So  the  chariot  of  Jehovah,  wrapped  in  brightness,  as  of  yore, 
In  a  pentecostal  whirlwind   swept   the   infant   nations  '  o'er  ! 

Embury  and   Webb  and  Strawbridge  first  the  lambent  tongues 

confessed  ; — 
Owen,   Williams,  King,  and  Walters,  Boardman,  Pilmoor,  heroes 

blessed; — 
Asbury,  the  great  Apostle  ;    Whatcoat,  Rankin,  Shadford,  Lee  ; 
Abbott,  Garretson,  and  Coughlan,  Neal,  M' Geary,  Black,  Loscc  ; 
Wooster,  Poythress,   Cooper,  Dickens,  George,  M'Kendree,  Roberts, 

Cook  ; 
Emory,  Hedding,  Fisk,   and    Olin,  Bangs,   all  graved    in    God's 

great  book  ; — 
Names  illustrious  as  their  labors  ; — deathless  as  the  march  of 

time  ; — 
Bright  with  undecaying  glory — sainted,  high,  serene,  sublime! 

1  Infant  nations,  i.e.  the  colonies. 


A    METHODIST   CENTENNIAL   SONG.  259 

Then  rose  venerable  "  John  Street,"  and  "  Saint  George's  " 

ample  shrine, 
Altars  where  God's  own  Shekinah  burned  with  ceaseless  light 

divine  ; 
Where  the  living  word,  like  lightning,  fell  from  fire-touched 

lips  of  old, 
And  the  shouts  of  new-born  thousands  heavenward  like  an 

anthem  rolled  ! 
Xot   alone   the    blissful   baptism  Wesley's   favored    followers 

knew, 
O'er    the    land,    their    flaming    herald,    matchless,    wondrous 

Whitefield  flew  ; 
Every  priesthood,  creed,  and  order  owned  the  impulse,  proved 

the  power  ; 
Far  and  widening  spread  the  influence,  deepening,  heightening 

every  hour. 

Next   came  war  and    revolution.     Strife  and  uproar  shook 

the  land  ; 
Leagued  oppression  toiled  to  conquer  Freedom's  young  heroic 

band  ; 
But  Jehovah,  God  of  battles,  saved    the  weak   but  smote  the 

strong, 
And  a  Nation  rose  victorious,  hailed  around  the  world  with 

song! 

Then,  with  her,  a  Church  as  mighty  called  her  heralds  from 
afar, 


260  A    METUODJST   CENTENNIAL    SONG. 

Chose  her  chiefs,  and  rose  organic,1  marshalled  for  a  heavenlier 

war  : 
"  Free  Grace,"  "  Freedom,"  "  Full  Salvation,"  on  her  blood- 
stained banner  flew  ; 
And  around  the  cross  she  wrapped  the  starry  flag — red,  white, 

and  blue  ! 
True    to    man,   and    true    to    Jesus,    panoplied     in    light    she 

stood  ; 
Heaven  to   her  one  hope  for  all  men,  man  one  blood-bought 

brotherhood. 
"  Holiness  unto   the   Lord  "  and  "  Perfect   Love  "  illumed 

her  van  ; — 
Thus    complete    her    march   triumphant   down   the  centuries 

began. 

Then  what   future  lay  before   her,  save  Jehovah  who   could 

tell? 
What  her   agonies  and   conquests,  how   her   gathering    hosts 

should  swell, 
Till,  to-day,  the  shouts  of  millions  shake  the  earth  and  cleave 

the  sky, 
Echoed  back  by  millions  ransomed,  warbling  through  eternity  ! 
On,  through  storms  that  rocked  the  nations,  bold  she  held  her 

glorious  track, 
Grandly  stood  for  God  and  justice,  cast  no  glance  of  trembling 

back  ; 

1  Rose  organic,  when  the  Methodist   Episcopal   Church  was   organized,  at 
Baltimore,  at  the  "  Christmas  Conference  "  of  1784. 


A    METHODIST   CEXTEXXIAL    SOXG.  261 

And  when  Slavery's  vast  rebellion  rose,  insane  with  Treason's 

ire, 
Up  she  sprang  a  harnessed   seraph,  bright  with  keen  celestial 

fire! 
Where  the  foremost  ranks  of  Freedom,  winged  with  wrath,  to 

victory  rode, 
There  the  cross  above   the  eagle   like  a  meteor  gleamed  and 

glowed  ! 
And  among  the  faint  and  dying  walked   sweet  Mercy's  angel 

bands, 
On  their  lips  the  love  of  Jesus,  life  and  healing  in  their  hands. 

Lo,  the  giant  conflict  ended  !  Slavery's  shackles  rent  in 
twain  ! 

Righteousness  and  Peace,  embracing,  soon  o'er  all  shall  smile 
and  reign  ! 

Millions  kneel  on  fetters  broken,  bathe  with  tears  the  blood- 
dyed  sod, 

Shout  their  anthems  throbbing  up  the  sunlight  of  the  throne 
of  God  ! 

Stretch  their  anxious  arms  imploring  for  man's  rights  with- 
held so  long, 

Asking  only  light  and  justice,  fearing  only  hate  and  wrong. 

With   the   nation's  joy  exultant,  lo  !  anew   the   Church  up- 

springs, 
Fired  with  purer,  loftier  rapture,  while  a  holier  joy  she  sings  ! 
Wesley's   children,  myriads,  millions,  bless  with  transport  and 

with  tears 


262  A    METHODIST  CENTENNIAL    SONG. 

Him  whose  grace  has  brought  them  victors  through  a  hundred 
deathless  years  ! 

Thronging  now  in  thousand  temples  glad  they  bend  the  ador- 
ing knee. 

Pealing  high  their  great  Centennial,  thundering  forth  their 
Jubilee  ! 

On  their  century's  latest  confines  peering  backward  in  amaze  ! 

Forward  on  a  future  grander  than  e'er  greeted  prophet's  gaze  ! 

Church  of  God,  what  wonders  wait  thee  in  that  future  hast- 
ening near, 

In  this  New  World's  vast  arena,  noblest  empire  on  the  sphere  ! 

What  thy  myriads  who  can  number  ?  How  thy  greatness  yet 
shall  mount  ? 

What  thy  work,  thy  trust  stupendous  ?  Who  can  sum  the 
dread  account  ? 

Deep  in  utmost,  sweet  abasement  mourn  thy  sins,  forsake, 
abhor ; 

Claim  thy  spotless  robe,  and  wear  it  ;  rise,  already  con- 
queror ! 

Pile  thy  gifts  like  golden  mountains  !  Heap  thy  holocausts 
untold  ! 

Bid  the  spires  of  countless  temples  tower  toward  heaven  while 
time  grows  old  ! 

Build  thy  schools  for  unborn  prophets  !  Rear  thy  halls  of 
hallowed  lore  ! 

Let  long-distant  generations  bless  their  sires  who  wrought 
before  ! 


A    METHODIST   CEXTEXXIAL    SOXG.  263 

^id   thy  struggling  sons  whose  souls,  on    fire  with    Heaven's 

resistless  call, 
Grope  through  nameless  want  and  heart-ache  toward  that  sun 

which  shines  for  all  ! 
Send  thy  light  to  those  in  darkness  !   Save  thy  children  !   Save 

the  poor  ! 
Broadly  sow  beside  all  waters  ; — God   shall  make  the  harvest 

sure  ! 

Living    temple    of    Jehovah,    precious     in    thy    light    most 

clear, 
Framed  to  mock  hell's  hate,  upsoaring  till  thy  dome  shall  roof 

the  sphere, 
Xot   in   mortal   might   nor  wisdom   lay  thy  deep   foundations 

low  ; 
Xot    in   earthly  pomp  and   grandeur  let    the  wondrous  fabric 

grow. 
On  the  Rock  of  endless  ages  bid  thy  crystal  turrets  climb, 
Gold   and   jasper,  emerald,  diamond — stones   of   truth   to  last 

through  time  ! 

Israel's  God,  we  bow  before  thee  ; — all  our  inmost  souls  we 
bow  ; — 
Take  our  prostrate  hearts  and  treasures  : — seal  our  consecra- 
tion now  ! — 
Let  the  rushing,  fiery  whirlwind,  as  of  old  thy  Spirit  came. 
Fill   thy   temples — fill    the  children — crown   thy  Church    witli 
tongues  of  flame  ! 


264  GRACE    TRIUMPHANT. 

tTp,    O   Zion  ! — Tell    the    story  ! — shout   the    tale    to   millions 

dumb  ! 
God   is  risen  in   glory  on  thee  ! — Rise  and  shine,   thy  light  is 

come  ! 


GRACE   TRIUMPHANT. 

["  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee." — Paul,  II.  Cor.  12  :  g.] 

Dedicated  to  the  Methodist  Itinerant  Ministry, 

BY  ONE  OF    THEIR  NUMBER, 

who  can  say  with  John  :  "  I  .  .  .  ,  your  brother,  and  partaker  with  you  in  the  tribulation  and 
kingdom  and  patience  which  are  in  Jesus,  was  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for  the  word 
of  God  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus." — Rev.  i  :  9,  R.  V. 

I. 

Twas  an  hour  of  the  aread  power  of  darkness  '  and  doubt  ; 
Sore  trials  encompassed  my  pathway  about  ; 
Wrong  triumphed  ;  betrayal,  opprobrium,  shame, 
Injustice,  dishonor,  were  heaped  on  my  name. 

II. 

The  hopes,  toils,  and  rights  of  my  life  overthrown, 
In  the  prime  of  my  manhood  I  stood  stripped  and  lone  ; 
Peeled,  outraged,  and  exiled,  my  life's  sun  seemed  set  ; 
Earth  lay  a  black  desert  'neath  heavens  of  jet. 

1  "  This  is  your  hour,  and  the  power  of  darkness." — Luke  22  :  53. 


GRACE    TRIUMPH  A  XT.  26 

III. 

Then,  crushed,  half  heart-broken,  I  cried  to  the  Lord  ; 
I  fainted,  fell  helpless,  but  fell  on  God's  word  ; 
When,  out  of  the  darkness,  a  voice  spake  to  me. — 
•'  My  grace  is  sufficient — sufficient — for  thee  !" 

IV. 

Half  startled,  yet  cheered  at  that  voice  clear  and  strong, 
Like  the  voice  of  a  friend  'mid  a  strange,  taunting  throng, 
I  groped  till  the  record  through  tears  I  could  see, — 
••  My  grace  is  sufficient — sufficient — for  thee  !" 

V. 

And  then  I  read  onward,  where  glorious  Paul 
"  As  a  fool  "  '  tells  his  conflicts  and  triumphs  o'er  all  : 
"  In  toils  more  abundant,  in  stripes,  prisons,  chains, 
In  deaths,"  yet  he  glories,  and  never  complains. 

VI. 
"  Five  times,  forty  lashes  save  one  have  I  owned  ! 
I  was  thrice  bastinadoed,  and  once  was  I  stoned  ; 
Thrice  shipwrecked,  a  day  and  a  night  in  the  sea, 
But  his  grace  was  sufficient — sufficient — for  me. 

VII. 
"  In  journeyings  often,  from  parishes  chased 
Where  sin  reigned  defiant,  and   Christ  was  disgraced  ; 

1  Read  II.  Cor.  11  ;  16  to  12  :  n. 


266  GRACE    TRIUMPHANT. 

In  perils  of  robbers — yet  robbers  were  tame 

To  saints  who  assassinate  truth  and  good  name  ! 

VIII. 
"  In  perils  by  countrymen,  city,  and  waste, — 
Ah,  bitter  the  sorrow  when  trust  is  misplaced, — 
But  ah,  by  false  brethren  deserted  to  fall, 
Is  bitterest,  shamefulest,  saddest  of  all  ! 

IX. 

"  And  yet  will  I  glory,  nor  weakness,  nor  want, 
Infirmity,  poverty,  peril,  shall  daunt  ; 
Let  down  in  a  basket  by  night  though  I  flee, 
God's  grace  is  sufficient — sufficient — for  me. 

X. 

"  Sometimes  to  third  heavens  translated  I  rise, 
And  visions  of  Paradise  ravish  my  eyes  ; 
Revelations  unspeakable  over  me  roll, 
Transporting,  o'erwhelming  sense,  body,  and  soul  ! 

XI. 

"  And  then  Satan's  messengers  buffet  afresh, 
And  rankle  like  thorns  in  this  passionate  flesh  ; 
But  when  to  the  Mighty  in  anguish  I  flee, 
He  answers,  '  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  ! 

XII. 

"  '  My  strength  through  thy  weakness  made  perfect  shall  shine  ; 
Thy  sorrows,  reproaches,  distresses,  are  mine  ; 


GRACE    TRIUMPHANT.  267 

Christ  crucified  walks  among  men  in  thy  shame,1 
Christ  crucified,  wearing  thy  form  and  thy  name  ! 

XIII. 

"  •  Canst  lend  me  thy  name  ?     Is't  too  precious  for  me  ? 
Canst  lend  me  thy  form  ?  that  once  more  men  may  see 
Their  Lord,  in  thy  likeness,  and  own  me,  confessed 
Meek,  pure,  patient,  brave,  in  my  servant  distressed  ? '  " 

XIV. 

Then,  sudden,  my  sad,  sinking  heart  felt  a  shock, 
Like  falling  in  dreams — but  my  feet  struck  the  "  Rock  "  ! 
My  soul  sprang  exultant  !     Grief's  nightmare  was  flown  ! 
And  Christ,  like  the  sun,  through  Paul's  sorrows  outshone  ! 

XV. 

Hail,  Hero  for  God  !     What  were  my  wrongs  to  thine  ? 
Yet  smitings  and  shames  were  thy  laurels  divine  ! 
Persecutions,  necessities,  obloquy,  scorn, 
They  melt  at  thy  ardor  like  mists  of  the  morn  ! 

XVI. 

Then  hail,  Hero-Spirit  !     A  joyous  All-Hail  ! 

Though  storm-clouds  may  gather,  life's  hope  seem  to  fail, 

So  Christ  stand  beside  me,  whate'er  can  befall. 

I'll  triumph,  O  Master,  with  thee  and  thy  Paul  ! 

1  "  Always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  Jesus,  that  the  life  also 
of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  body." — II.  Cor.  4  :  10,  R.  V. 


268  GRACE    TRIUMPHANT. 

XVII. 

A  "  fool,"  too,  Fll  glory  in  stripes  for  thy  cause, 
For  loyalty  true  to  thy  oath  and  thy  laws  ; 
And  when  foes  assail  me,  and  coward  friends  flee, 
Thy  grace  shall  suffice  me — I'll  suffer  with  thee. 

XVIII. 
I'll  suffer  with  thee,  ever-crucified  King  ; 
Defeat  has  no  bitterness,  Death  has  no  sting, 
While  thy  smile  from  heav'n's  crystalline  wall  beams  to  me,- 
"  My  grace  is  sufficient — sufficient — for  thee  !" 

XIX. 

Thy  witness,  I'll  stand,  'mid  earth's  smile  or  its  frown  ! 
Thy  banner,  O  Captain,  I'll  never  haul  down  ! 
Though  I  fall  at  my  post,  this  my  death-song  shall  be, 
God's  grace  is  sufficient — sufficient — for  me  ! 

XX. 

O  Rest  !  sweet,  sweet  Rest  !  Love's  victorious  Rest  ! 
O  Conqueror,  thorn-crowned,  I  lean  on  thy  breast  ! 
There's  heav'n  in  that  whisper — thy  whisper  to  me, — - 
"  My  grace  is  sufficient — sufficient — for  thee  !" 


WORK  IN  REST. 

I. 

Ah  me,  how  vast  is  the  boundless  space  ! 

Ah  me,  how  long  is  the  endless  time  ! 

How  sweet,  how  holy  the  psalm  sublime 
That  floats,  as  balm  from  a  crystal  vase, 
From  all  that  is,  to  the  heavenly  place. 

II. 

How  sweet,  how  holy  that  ceaseless  psalm  ! 
It  melts  and  sinks  through  the  depths  above, 
Fainting  like  pulses  drowned  in  love, 
Dying,  like  zephyrs  in  groves  of  palm. 
Or  the  inward  flow  of  the  tide's  full  calm. 

III. 

How  smooth,  how  calm  are  those  star-sprent  planes 
How  calm  are  the  drifted  worlds  that  stream 
The  ether  oceans  with  foamless  gleam  ! 

A  benediction  of  calmness  reigns 

Through  being's  illimitable  domains. 

IV. 
There  is  no  hurry  in  all  the  skies  ; 
The  fret  and  flurry  of  finite  years, 
The  heats  of  spirit,  the  worry  and  fears. 


2 -jo  WORK  IN  REST. 

And  the  tears  that  bleed  from  our  human  eyes, 
Are  all  unknown  in  those  unknown  spheres. 

V. 

So  smooth,  so  still,  through  the  stormless  deep, 

Unchafed  by  ripple,  unrocked  by  tide, 
With  a  patient,  tireless,  majestic  sweep 

Through  the  long,  bright  lapse  of  their  years  they  glide, 
And  yet  their  changeless  sereneness  keep. 

VI. 

There  is  no  heat,  no  hurry  in  heaven  ; 

The  living  creatures,  the  spirits  seven, 
The  prostrate  elders  who  next  adore, 
The  millions  who  chant  on  the  amber  shore, 
Are  calmed  with  rapture  forevermore. 

VII. 

God  never  hastens.     Through  all  the  deeps 

Of  the  Goodness  infinite,  teeming  still 

With  ever-creative  thought  and  will, 
And  the  patient  care  all  being  that  keeps, 
The  calm  potential  and  blissful  sleeps. 

VIII. 

For  God,  the  All-worker,  works  in  rest ; 
Out  of  his  nature  creation  growrs, 
Out  of  his  being  all  being  flows, 


WORK  IN  REST.  271 

As  the  rivers  from  Eden,  unrepressed, 
Boundless,  exhaustless,  beautiful,  blest. 

IX. 

And  deep  through  the  unknown,  soundless  sea, 
Outward  forever,  on  every  side 
The  spheral  waves  of  his  effluence  wide 

Vibrate  through  shoreless  infinity, 

Filled  and  filling  with  life  as  they  glide. 

X. 

And  the  vibrant  thrill  of  that  boundless  Life 
Is  the  measureless,  ceaseless  pulse  of  Love  ; 
All-blessing,  beneath,  abroad,  above, 

With  sumless,  blissful  beneficence  rife, 

Too  wise  for  sorrow,  too  strong  for  strife. 

XI. 

And  up  to  that  Infinite  Life  and  Love 
The  endless  cry  of  creation  goes  ; 

Million-voiced,  dumb,  at  the  Heart  above 

It  knocks,  till  the  answer  all  worlds  o'erflows 
With  love  that  lightens  and  glory  that  glows  ! 

XII. 
O  Infinite  Energy,  born  of  Repose, 

Repose,  of  Infinite  Energy  born, 

Unspent,  serene  as  creation's  morn, 

My  restless  spirit,  toiling  and  worn, 
In  the  restful  might  of  thy  being  inclose. 


272  THE  LIGHT  OF    THE    WORLD. 

XIII. 

O  Thou,  the  All-worker,  work  in  me 

Thy  patience,  purity,  power  and  peace  ! 
O  clear  my  vision  thy  purpose  to  see, 
Work  in  me  and  through  me,  that  I  in  thee 
May  rest  and  work,  with  eternal  increase. 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  WORLD." 

'Eyoi  et/ui  to  <£o>?  tou  Koafxov. — John  8  :  12. 
I. 

Light  of  the  Kosmos,  Reason,  Cause 
Of  all  that  is,  below,  above, 
Centre  and  spring  of  Life  and  Love, 

And  Lord  of  Love's  eternal  laws  ; 

II. 

One  world  of  thine  we  dimly  scan, 

And  own  it  full  of  wrong  and  woe  ; — 
We  know  not  why  it  should  be  so, 

Nor  why  should  sin  thy  offspring,  man. 

III. 
We  know  we  sin.     Through  mind  and  heart, 

Through  soul  and  sense  defilement  stains  ; 

The  good  in  us  is  bound  in  chains 
Whose  links  we  will  not  rend  apart. 


THE   LIGHT   OF    THE    WORLD  27; 

IV. 
And  darkness,  vast  and  dense  and  sad, 

Hangs  o'er  us  all,  a  tearful  cloud  ; 

Each  heart  with  aching  throbs  aloud, 
With  none,  none,  none  to  make  us  glad. 

V. 

What,  none  ? —     Nay  !   nay  !   O  Thou  Divine  ! 

Thou  Light  of  Worlds  !  We  see  thee  stand 

'Mid  suns  abashed  on  either  hand, 
O'erawed  we  see  thee  stand  and  shine  ! 

VI. 
Thou  shin'st  for  us  !   In  mortal  frame, 

With  mortal  weakness  compassed  'round. 

In  thee,  and  thee  alone  were  found 
Love's  spotless  light  and  scathless  flame  ! 

VII. 
Thou  shin'st  in  us.     Truth's  crystal  ray 

From  thee,  thyself,  the  Truth  who  art. 

Fills  Reason's  eye  and  Passion's  heart, 
And  lifts  us  toward  thy  nameless  day. 

VIII. 

Thou  shin'st  through  us.     From  man  to  man. 
From  age  to  age,  from  race  to  race, 
Thy  broadening  beams  our  darkness  chase. 

To  crown  with  light  what  light  began. 


274  THE   LIGHT  OF   THE   WORLD. 

IX. 

As  Truth  and  Love  took  human  mould 
To  touch  and  teach  and  save  at  first, 
So  still,  from  soul  to  soul,  as  erst, 

Must  goodness  win  its  way,  and  hold. 

X. 

Our  goodness  Thou,  our  love  and  light, 

In  us  set  up  thy  kingdom  soon  ; 

Shine,  shine  to  boundless,  blissful  noon, 
To  noon  that  knows  nor  shade  nor  night. 

XI. 

Like  sunrise  lances  through  a  wood, 

So  through  our  hearts,  through  nations,  climes, 
Flash,  till  the  clash  of  heavenly  chimes 

Shall  hail  o'er  earth  the  dawn  of  good  ! 

XII. 

Rise,  orbed  in  glory  !     Saviour  !     King  ! 

Jehovah  !    Jesus  !     Truth  !     Light  !     Love  ! 

Lion  of  Judah  !  Lamb  and  Dove  ! 
Reign  Thou,  till  earth  like  heaven  shall  sing  ! 


IMMORTALITY. 

When*  I  behold  the  ocean,  mountains,  sky. 

The  broad,  green  prairie,  rimmed  with  heaven's  own  blue. 

The  white  cloud-ships  that  sail  the  summer  noon, 

The  midnight's  awful  dome,  on  fire  with  stars, 

And  drink  the  rhythmic  silences  that  steal 

Solemn,  eternal,  through  the  universe. 

My  spirit  pines  with  longing  to  explore 

This  stream  of  boundless  being  to  its  Source, 

To  find  its  far,  unfathomed,  central  Spring, 

The  Xile-fount  of  existence,  Godhead's  sea, 

Shoreless  abyss  of  conscious  life  and  love, 

Whose  spheral  waves  of  force  creative  sweep 

Vital,  unspent,  widening  eternally. 

Breaking  to  song  and  star-foam  as  they  roll. 

And  I  have  felt  within  me  strength  to  roam 
Though  galaxies  and  glories,  far  beyond 
These  realms  of  order  into  eldest  night  : 
Beyond  attraction's  reach,  or  light's  last  gleam. 
Through  outer  emptiness,  where  height  nor  depth, 
Substance,  nor  centre,  nor  circumference, 
Obstruct  the  spirit's  flight  : — for  rest  to  poise 


276  IMMORTALITY. 

On  crags  of  solid  darkness  ;  or,  unchilled, 

On  wing  to  plunge  the  fixed  and  sensible  gloom 

Through  gulfs  where  order's  wide  and  fair  domain 

Shrinks  to  a  sand-shoal,  lost  in  tideless  seas  ; 

Where  ancient  Chaos'  old  atomic  wars 

Ne'er  stirred  the  atomless  void  of  nothingness  ; 

Where  space  is  all  ;  where  time  ne'er  was,  event, 

Nor  date  to  chronicle  eternity. 

And  when  my  soul,  like  one  long  pent  in  towns 
But  now  glad  wandering  wide  o'er  breezy  hills, 
Had  stretched  her  powers  in  grateful  exercise, 
And  roomy  freedom,  then  'twere  joy  to  turn 
From  this  abysmal,  void  infinitude 
Toward  the  far  coasts  of  day.    Intuitive, 
Past  hells  and  limbos,  steer  on  steady  wing, 
To  where,  faint  glimmering  down  the  dusk  expanse, 
One  tremulous  beam  points  out  a  universe, 
A  point,  perspective,  widening,  breaking  bright, 
Until  the  glittering  maze  of  wheeling  orbs, 
Suns  guiding  suns  and  worlds  convoying  worlds, 
Once  more  in  tuneful  march  should  'round  me  roll. 

And  I  have  longed  attraction-winged  to  voyage 
Studious,  through  starry  archipelagoes 
Of  drifted  clusters,  all  compact  of  suns, 
A  luminous  labyrinth,  tow'rd  that  globe  unknown 
Whose  vast  convexity  the  centre  fills, 


IMMORTALITY.  277 

A  steadfast  sphere,  unmeasured,  unrevolved, 
Broad  as  Sol's  wheel  among  morn's  blinking  stars. 
Far  up  its  golden  tides  of  primal  dawn 
Eager  I'd  sail,  while  soft  prismatic  floods 
Of  rosy  effluence  streamed  through  sense  and  soul, 
With  rhythm  harmonious  as  the  cadenced  close 
Of  angel  vespers  round  the  twilight  throne. 
Were  I  unfleshed,  this  hour  my  soul  should  spring 
O'er  that  far  flood,  to  find  its  fountain  clime, 
And  scale  its  cataracts,  cliffs  diaphanous, 
Of  lucent  flash,  poured  from  the  mount  of  flame, 
Crystal  Olympus,  throne  of  Him  whose  feet 
Set  Sinai  altogether  on  a  blaze. 

I  shall  behold  them.     Can  a  being  die, 
Conceiving  thoughts  of  immortality  ? 
Shall  I  all  perish,  when  this  frame  dissolves 
Back  to  its  fellow-eiements,  rebuilt 
Mayhap  in  thousand  forms,  while  ages  roll  ? 
Can  this  self-conscious,  personal  /  expire, 
A  wreck  of  outworn  tissues,  forces  spent, 
Spent  or  transformed,  a  chemic  drop  sublimed  ? 
Is  this  what  roams  the  stars,  and  talks  with  God  ? 
Avaunt  vain  babblers,  philosophic  fools  !  - 
God  is  !  I  am  !  and  while  he  lives  I  live  ! 
Xor  shall  this  wondrous  body,  all  forgot, 
Want  essence  and  resemblance,  though  transformed 
Ten  thousand  times,  through  twice  ten  thousand  years. 


278  IMMORTALITY. 

E'en  these  were  but  as  moments.     Earth  grows  old, 
And  rocks,  unsteadfast,  on  her  axle  worn, 
Shuddering  through  all  her  blind  and  stony  frame, 
With  secret  dread,  her  chronologue  of  doom. 

And  let  that  moment  speed  :  let  long-pent  fires 
Rend  and  enwrap  this  dull  material  ball, 
Brighten  then  blot  this  planet  in  its  turn, 
And  strow  its  cinders  through  the  darkened  sky  ; — 
They  have  done  this  before,  and  shall  again, 
For  He  who  bids  them  burn  still  bids  them  build  ; — 
They  cannot  scathe  the  soul,  nor  scorch  its  wings. 
Entire,  immortal,  undissolved,  serene 
I  shall  ride  upward  on  th'  exploding  flames 
That  warp  and  crack  the  firmamental  spheres  ' 
And  shrivel  yon  blue  heaven  like  a  scroll, — 
Shall  find  that  stainless  city,  built  by  God, 
Whose  four-square  walls,  from  rainbow  quarries  hewn, 
Whose  streets  of  lucid  gold,  whose  diamond  domes, 
Stand,  while  the  white  throne  lights  the  universe. 

O  Thou,  Almighty,  thy  creating  breath 
Could  scatter  all  these  systems  thou  hast  framed, 
And  chase  the  nebulous  drifts  of  starry  dust, 
Planets,  and  satellites,  and  clustered  suns, 
Driven  like  the  chaff  of  summer  threshing-floors 

1   The  crystalline  spheres  in  the  ancient  Ptolemaic  system  of  the  universe. 


IMMORTALITY.  279 

When  western  whirlwinds  mow  the  woods,  and  strow 

With  wrecks  of  ruined  villages  the  plains, 

And  scourge  the  yeasty  cauldron  of  the  deep 

Till  watery  Andes  whelm  the  shuddering  shores  ! 

Terror  and  glory,  majesty  and  love, 

Alike  are  thine,  alike  divine  and  good. 

These  shall  not  harm  nor  fright  a  child  of  thine, 

For  thou  hast  breathed  that  same  immortal  breath 

Into  these  moulds  of  clay,  and  sealed  it  here, 

With  all  its  prisonless  energy  and  fire. 

To  warm  these  breathing  clods, — but  not  forever. 

Deep  from  eternity  a  whisper  comes, 

Stealing  like  melody  through  all  our  being, 

That  tells  us  of  a  large  and  free  existence, 

A  life  unlimited,  in  which  the  nights 

And  voyages  of  imagination  here 

Shall  be  the  soul's  experience,  not  her  fancies, 

Her  glad,  intelligent  travels,  not  her  dreams. 


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